This is from a year ago and was in part posted in NZ #1

still very relevant so re-post to get in bread

Professor Anne-Marie Brady, who warned about China interference, says car was sabotaged

Leith Huffadine

12:24, Nov 16 2018

An academic who has warned about China's political interference in New Zealand said her car had been sabotaged, and police were investigating.

University of Canterbury professor Anne-Marie Brady said her garage was broken into and the air was let out of two of the tyres on her car to a "dangerous level" which would cause the car to lose control when braking.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108649435/professor-annemarie-brady-who-warned-about-china-interference-says-car-was-sabotaged

Academic Anne-Marie Brady confronts the power of China

Philip Matthews

Nov 25 2017

Do New Zealanders have any real sense of China's influence and global ambitions? A Christchurch academic says it is time we woke up. Philip Matthews reports.

Here is Her paper

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99121572/academic-annemarie-brady-confronts-the-power-of-china?rm=m

Magic Weapons:

China's political influence activities under Xi Jinping

This policy paper examines China's foreign political influence activities under Xi

Jinping, using one very representative state, New Zealand, as a case study. New

Zealand’s relationship with China is of interest, because the Chinese government

regards New Zealand as an exemplar of how it would like its relations to be with

other states. In 2013, China’s New Zealand ambassador described the two countries’

relationship as “a model to other Western countries”.6 And after Premier Li Keqiang

visited New Zealand in 2017, a Chinese diplomat favourably compared New

Zealand-China relations to the level of closeness China had with Albania in the early

1960s.7 The paper considers the potential impact of China’s expanded political

influence activities in New Zealand and how any effects could be mitigated and

countered

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/for_website_magicweaponsanne-mariesbradyseptember2017.pdf

China's space programme launches on an Ashburton dairy farm

Chris Hutching

12:45, Sep 22 2017

The choice of an Ashburton farm for a Chinese space programme has been highlighted in a research paper by Anne-Marie Brady, Canterbury University specialist in Chinese affairs.

Brady said New Zealand was useful to China's near-space exploration research "as it expands its long range precision missiles, as well as having civilian applications".

Chinese company KuangChi Science used one of Shanghai Pengxin's farms near Ashburton for the launch of China's first near-space commercial programme called Traveler in June 2015.

The launch of the near-space balloon was described in a Stuff article at the time as a test to deliver broadband.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97090218/chineseowned-ashburton-dairy-farm-space-programme-under-academic-spotlight?rm=m

Finding our place in China's 'belt and road' strategy

05:00, Mar 30 2017

Alibaba will use New Zealand and Australia to develop a new global tracking system to help guarantee food safety and quality – a major source of distrust among Chinese consumers.

The concept is to use the so-called 'internet of trust' blockchain technology underpinning Bitcoin to create irrefutably transparent food supply chain verification that Alibaba hopes will make customers more willing to buy food online.

"We see the New Zealand and Australian markets setting the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to integrity, safety and quality of food supply chains," said Alibaba's managing director Australia and New Zealand, Maggie Zhou.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/90984749/pattrick-smellie-finding-our-place-in-chinas-belt-and-road-strategy?rm=m

What does Chinese investment mean for New Zealand?

07:46, Mar 30 2017

In a report, credit rating agency Fitch Ratings warned that the focus on soft power, rather than commercial viability, meant a risk that projects could fail to deliver expected repayments.

"In some cases, genuine infrastructure needs and commercial logic might be secondary to political motivations."

The report also cited risks with delivering the projects, as Chinese companies would be operating in unfamiliar markets and dealing with "challenging and unpredictable business environments".

But what about the risks for New Zealand?

NZ First leader Winston Peters, who opposed the initial China FTA deal in 2008, warns that any infrastructure deals will come with a cost.

"No-one's going to build a rail or a road without wanting to own a share of it: whether that's done by tolls or whatever, that will be required."

There have been reports of problems with some Chinese aid projects in the Pacific, including a hospital built in Fiji with ramps so steep that an ambulance, rather than a trolley, was required to transfer patients between wards.

Peters also has concerns about a possible influx of Chinese workers to build any projects, rather than providing jobs for Kiwis.

"This country's large infrastructure was built by its own people, with some exceptions…the idea that an offshore labour force, with offshore materials and offshore steel, will do the job, would be a serious concern for NZ First."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/90921865/what-does-chinese-investment-mean-for-new-zealand?rm=m