NZ Super invests in ‘genocide’
The New Zealand Super Fund has more than $500,000 invested in two Chinese companies blacklisted by the United States for their role in human rights violations.
The revelations come in the wake of the Stuff Circuit investigation Deleted, which exposed links between New Zealand businesses backed by government funding and investment and the blacklisted tech giant iFlytek.
New papers released to Stuff Circuit show the Super Fund holds iFlytek shares currently valued at just under $258,000. It also holds stock worth $274,000 in Dahua Technology, which supplies video surveillance equipment.
Both companies are part-owned by the Chinese Government, and both were placed on the trade blacklist by the US Commerce Department in 2019, over Beijing’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.
‘‘They need to stop the funding immediately,’’ said Murat, a member of the New Zealand Uyghur community whose name we have changed to protect his security.
‘‘iFlytek have Uyghur people’s blood on their hands,’’ he told Stuff Circuit.
‘‘I cannot believe the NZ Super Fund is involved in the Uyghur genocide. New Zealand taxpayers are indirectly dragged into the genocide because of the investment. I’m feeling both disappointed and terrified.’’
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he has asked for reassurances that the China investments meet the NZ Super Fund’s guidelines for responsible investing.
iFlytek’s voice recognition technology has been used by security agencies in their mass surveillance of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang, China, according to investigations by human rights organisations.
The NZ Super Fund investment in iFlytek was revealed in a December 2019 briefing paper to Robertson and ministers David Parker and Phil Twyford, obtained by Stuff Circuit.
It also revealed NZ Super Fund holdings in ‘‘two other companies . . . that have also been blacklisted by the US because of their involvement in human rights abuses in Xinjiang Province’’.
The companies were iFlytek ($296,694), Dahua Technology ($66,721) and Hikvision ($675,879). Hikvision also supplies video surveillance equipment and also features on the US trade blacklist because of links to human rights violations in Xinjiang.
Yesterday, the Super Fund clarified that it dumped the Hikvision stock after US investors were banned by President Donald Trump from holding shares in the company. iFlytek and Dahua were not included in the ban.