Spy agencies to front as China allegations deepen
New Zealand’s spy agencies will front a high-powered Parliamentary committee today, as allegations of Chinese interference in the United Kingdom deepen.
The directors general of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) will appear before the Intelligence and Security Committee this evening, at which Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, and other senior MPs will inquire into the agencies’ performance in the past year.
Fronting the committee meeting not only provides an opportunity for MPs to question – albeit often cautiously – the spy agencies in a public setting, but it also provides a rare forum for the heads of the agencies to detail their concerns about New Zealand’s national security.
Foreign interference has become a predominant concern for the agencies in recent years as competition between countries – particularly China and the US, with its Western partners – has grown more intense.
In recent days, reports in both the United Kingdom and Australia have emerged of Chinese interference of the sort that has alarmed officials in Wellington.
The Times in London reported that, overnight Tuesday, UK deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden was expected to inform the British Parliament about Chinese cyberattacks on MPs and the electoral system in an effort to interfere in the country’s politics.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, asked yesterday if he had been briefed about such hacking occurring to New Zealand MPs, said: “I’ve got no comment to make at this point on that.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported of Australian security agencies’ concerns about a Chinese businessman, Zhao Fugang, working as a Chinese Communist Party operative in Fiji to deepen security ties with the country.
The SIS has been issuing warnings about foreign interference in New Zealand, including at committee hearings. Last year, acting SIS director-general Phil McKee said there were a small number of states conducting interference against New Zealand – later named by the SIS as including China, Iran, and Russia – and the agency has said “aggressive spying” was taking place.
The Post has reported one of few known cases of a New Zealander alleged to be aiding the Chinese government by providing it privileged information. Yuan Jason Zhao, a senior analyst for the Public Service Commission, was accused of being an “insider threat” in 2022, and as of February remained suspended from his job.
Last year, the Government was also considering creating new “foreign interference” crimes to better prosecute foreign agents as part of a broader effort to harden New Zealand policy to the threat. However, under the new National-coalition Government the status of this work remains uncertain, as does the Government’s response to recommendations to improve the legislation which provides the intelligence agencies their spying powers.
Last week, the GCSB was criticised by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Brendan Horsley for its handling of a foreign country’s spying system it hosted for much of a decade, without adequate record keeping or seeking ministerial approval.
While former ministers in charge of the agency have expressed their frustration at this, criticism from within Parliament has been limited. Both Luxon and Intelligence Agencies Minister Judith Collins have said the issue was historical and they were assured the GCSB had since improved.