WASHINGTON
\nNew Zealand\u2019s top diplomat Winston Peters drew the ire of Beijing\u2019s ambassador in Wellington on Thursday after telling a lawmaker of Chinese descent to \u201cgo back to your own country\u201d.
\nDuring a debate about New Zealand\u2019s response to the Covid pandemic on Wednesday, populist NZ First leader Peters was asked by China-born Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan: \u201cAre you vaccinated?\u201d
\nIn response, Peters said the lawmaker, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but grew up in Auckland, had \u201ccome here five minutes ago\u201d. \u201cGo back to your own country. That\u2019s where they lie like a flatfish, but they don\u2019t lie like that here,\u201d Peters said.
\n\u201cThis is called a democracy, unlike what you\u2019re used to. Go back to where you\u2019ve come from, you loudmouth.\u201d
\nThe comments sparked a rare intervention from Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong. Wang said on X on Thursday that while he preferred to stay out of domestic politics, \u201csuffice it to say, sometimes, a statement says more about the person that makes it than anything or anybody else\u201d. Peters fired back at Wang, saying his comments had \u201cproven my point\u201d.
\n\u201cWe live in a democracy that includes free speech and rights \u2014 those two values that other certain countries not only limit, but do so with force,\u201d Peters said on X. \u201cIf that offends the pearl clutchers and the communist shills labelling it as \u2018dangerous\u2019 \u2013 welcome to New Zealand\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON New Zealand\u2019s top diplomat Winston Peters drew the ire of Beijing\u2019s ambassador in Wellington on Thursday after telling a lawmaker of Chinese descent to \u201cgo back to your own country\u201d. During a debate about New Zealand\u2019s response to the Covid pandemic on Wednesday, populist NZ First leader Peters was asked by China-born Green Party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n