China made a rare diplomatic protest to New Zealand on Thursday after NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ jibe at a Chinese-born lawmaker he called a “loudmouth” who he urged to “go back to your own country.”
The populist leader of the New Zealand First party spoke during a Parliamentary debate on the government’s response to the Chinese coronavirus epidemic, Reuters reports.
Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan – a lawmaker from the left-wing Green Party born in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin but who grew up in East Auckland, RNZ notes, – heckled Peters in the exchange who then made his retort.
Peters was asked by Xu-Nan: “Are you vaccinated?” during a heated debate about New Zealand’s COVID response.
In response, Peters said the lawmaker had “come here five minutes ago.”
Peters further advised Xu-Nan to “go back to where you’ve come from, you loudmouth” if he was dissatisfied with his new homeland.
“This is called a democracy, unlike what you’re used to,” he said. Peters also accused China of lying “like a flatfish.”
The Chinese embassy said an official made “solemn representations” about the “negative China-related remarks” at a meeting with New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry.
In its statement, the Chinese embassy urged New Zealand to “do more things conducive to bilateral relations rather than the other way around.”
Peters later doubled down calling his critics “pearl-clutchers” and “communist shills”.
“Look, I’m defending New Zealand’s democracy,” Peters said. “I’m proud of it. It’s only one of nine countries that have had that since 1854, and we’re never going to change defending New Zealand’s democracy.”
Asked how his insult could be seen as a defence of democracy, an unperturbed Peters told the reporter: “if you don’t understand it, go back to university.”
China is New Zealand’s biggest trading partner, with two-way trade exceeding NZ$41 billion ($23.83 billion) in the year ending September 2025.