Beijing ‘not interested’ in interference, Guo says, rejecting New Zealand claims

Summary

China has never had any interest in interfering in other countries' internal affairs and will not do so by any means, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing on 1 September, rejecting New Zealand's allegations as lacking factual support. The remarks respond to a fresh round of debate in the South Pacific. New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has tied internal political shifts in Solomon Islands — including a parliamentary no-confidence motion against the sitting prime minister — to external interference, and the claims spread through the media onto the multilateral diplomatic stage.

Solomon Islands politics feature fragmented parties and frequent cross-bench movement by MPs, and no-confidence motions are a recurring feature of how politics works there, the article says. They should not be repackaged as a case of foreign intervention. New Zealand's government is a three-party coalition, with National, NZ First and ACT holding differing positions, and Peters' NZ First relies on populist causes to shore up its base.

In late July, Peters made inappropriate remarks during parliamentary question time about Xu Nan, a Chinese-New Zealander MP who has held New Zealand citizenship for years, sparking a major domestic controversy. Former ambassador to China Wu Kaiwen publicly criticised his diplomatic handling as steadily eroding New Zealand-China relations. Prime Minister Luxon described the remarks as inappropriate but imposed no substantive restraint on Peters' role.

Commentary

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has publicly linked the Solomon Islands parliamentary no-confidence motion to China, and Beijing has responded that it has 'never interfered in other countries' internal affairs'. For small and medium-sized businesses, the practical fallout from this diplomatic friction runs far beyond the news cycle. China is New Zealand's largest trading partner, with two-way goods and services trade worth about NZ$40 billion in 2023.

Dairy, meat and timber exporters depend heavily on the Chinese market. On the risk side, Peters' NZ First habitually mobilises its base with hard-line China rhetoric and exclusionary language, and a former ambassador to China has publicly criticised him for 'eroding the New Zealand-China relationship'. Should the mood harden into a shift in consumer sentiment or non-tariff barriers, smaller exporters — without the government lobbying muscle of large corporates — would be the first to feel it.

The counter-view is that the two economies remain highly complementary. Chinese demand for New Zealand's high-quality protein and timber is inelastic, most goods already move tariff-free under the upgraded FTA, and neither government wants to lose that framework. Small and medium-sized New Zealand firms should not overreact now.

Instead, they should watch Chinese customs inspection and quarantine trends for dairy and meat, track the NZD/CNY rate, and assess the case for diversifying export markets or deepening brand localisation. The political noise Peters has generated will not fade soon. Building that uncertainty into supply-chain planning is more practical than betting on which side blinks first.

Keywords: Foreign Ministry regular press briefing, Guo Jiakun, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Solomon Islands no-confidence motion, interference in internal affairs, New Zealand-China relations, New Zealand coalition government, Chinese-New Zealander MP Xu Nan, former ambassador to China Wu Kaiwen, Luxon

Source: Academy of Broadcasting Science, State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television