Pipe diverted over security concerns

One of Wellington’s major wastewater pipes is being diverted because of security concerns from the long-delayed Chinese embassy being built over it.

The Wellington City Council and Wellington Water both initially denied any knowledge of the plans, but then backtracked after the Chinese embassy confirmed it was working with the council on the pipe issue. Minutes from Mt Cook Mobilised, the suburb’s residents’ association, also confirmed the pipes were moving because of security concerns.

The long-delayed new embassy is being built on the corner of Tasman and Rugby streets, near Government House and the Basin Reserve.

‘‘The pipes will need to be relocated before building starts, because having maintenance workers under its site would be considered a security risk by the embassy,’’ the minutes say.

China has plenty of recent reasons to fear retaliation from groups feeling wronged by its authoritarian government. There has been the repression of democracy in Hong Kong that has seen thousands ditching the city for New Zealand, its ramping up of tensions with Taiwan, the oppression of the Uyghur and other ethnic minorities, its growing influence in the Pacific, and its internationally condemned human rights record.

Maps show an interceptor pipe runs along the property’s eastern side. It is a major pipe that carries sewage and other waste to the treatment plant at Moa Point on the south coast, and it is big enough for a person to walk through.

City councillor Nicola Young confirmed the resident group’s minutes were an accurate recording of the meeting .

Wellington Central MP and Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson recalled a November meeting with Mt Cook Mobilised and Young where the issue was discussed.

He had not discussed it directly with the embassy.

‘‘I said I had heard that an issue with the development was that there was a significant water and sewerage pipe under the land. I noted that if that was the case that getting access to the pipes for maintenance etc would be a security issue, as it would for any embassy.’’

China’s ambassador to New Zealand, Dr Wang Xiaolong, confirmed the embassy was working with the council on the pipes beneath the embassy site so that building could proceed, ‘‘with a view to facilitating the future maintenance and possible repair of the pipes’’.