Media backlash could put Chinese off — academic

The ongoing debate about nonresident Chinese buying Auckland houses has received widespread media coverage in China and the tone has been overwhelmingly negative, says an academic.

Associate Professor Henry Chung, of Massey University’s School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, said much of the coverage suggested people with Chinese surnames were not welcome in New Zealand and would not be “treated fairly”.

The reports had the potential to make some Chinese students and tourists have second thoughts about coming to this country, he added.

Chung said Baidu — China’s most popular internet search engine — was currently registering 150 to 200 Chinese language articles about Labour’s

. . . a lot of people feel let down and wish the

Labour Party had communicated with the Chinese community before going to the

media. Henry Chung (right) Associate Professor Massey University

release of leaked real estate figures, which showed 39.5 per cent of Auckland houses sold from February to April went to people with Chinese surnames, despite people of Chinese ethnicity making up only 9 per cent of the city’s population.

The state-run Xinhua news agency, widely regarded as a mouthpiece of China’s Government, was the first Chinese media outlet to report the story, he said.

It appears to have set the tone of much of the coverage that followed.

According to a translation by Chung, Xinhua said it disagreed with Labour’s data because it was not possible “to confirm the real originality of the buyers”.

Xinhua also said it agreed with a report by the Asia New Zealand foundation that said migration from Asian countries had made Auckland more liveable and interesting.

Chung, who emigrated to New Zealand from Taiwan more than 20 years ago, said Labour’s findings had also been reported by China’s CCTV news network, and regional media.

And the Auckland-based Chinese Herald had described Labour’s data as a “deep water bomb to New Zealand society and especially the Chin- ese community”, he said. Responding to critics who have labelled Labour “racist”, housing spokesman Phil Twyford has said if they disliked the party’s findings they should reveal their own research and data on the issue. But no other such comprehensive studies have been carried out to measure the number of people in China who are buying Auckland residential property, Twyford said.

Chung said many Chinese residents in New Zealand were traditionally supportive of Labour, but were reconsidering their allegiance. “They like a lot of what the party stands for, however, a lot of people feel let down and wish the Labour Party had communicated with the Chinese community before going to the media.”

New Zealand China Council executive director Pat English has said Labour’s figures had done “immeasurable” damage to links between this country and China.