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be violating bans on exports to North Korea via its Chinese partner; and the almost
complete domination of local Chinese-language media by pro-PRC outlets.

Chinese Diaspora

There are currently two hundred thousand ethnic Chinese in New Zealand, primarily
concentrated in Auckland. During the Cold War, Chinese New Zealanders “were neither
pro-CCP nor pro-PRC” and its community institutions were “proudly independent.”
Now, few activities are noticeably independent of Beijing.

In addition to its embassy in Wellington, Beijing coordinates its engagement with the
diaspora through an Overseas Chinese Service Center, established in Auckland in 2014.
The organization considered most closely connected with PRC authorities in New
Zealand is the Peaceful Reunification of China Association of New Zealand, which was
founded in 2000. Controlled by the United Front Work Department, it has encouraged
bloc voting in the ethnic Chinese community, fund-raising for friendly ethnic Chinese
political candidates, and organizing of protests. The current leader of the association,
a businessman in the food industry, also heads or has leadership roles in other United
Front organizations in New Zealand and has been publicly listed as an adviser to the
Beijing Overseas Chinese Affairs Council.

Several current ethnic Chinese individuals active in New Zealand work “very publicly”
with China’s United Front Organizations in New Zealand.³ In return they have
benefited from fund-raising events held by the Peaceful Reunification Association,
which has encouraged ethnic Chinese to vote for them. In the 2017 elections, a woman
who led the New Zealand Chinese Students and Scholars Association was placed on
the Labour Party’s election slate, but the party did not receive enough votes for her to
enter Parliament. Chinese individuals active in New Zealand politics have also attended
Peaceful Reunification Association meetings, where they stated their intention to
promote China’s policies with respect to Tibet, promoted a think tank tied to the Belt
and Road Initiative, and repeated slogans from Xi Jinping in local campaign materials.

Politics

In 2017, it was disclosed that Yang Jian, who to date remains a member of
Parliament, concealed that he had been a student and teacher at two of China’s
military intelligence colleges for fifteen years before immigrating to New Zealand.
He omitted this history on his English-language resume for his position at a New
Zealand university, his permanent residency and citizenship applications, and his
parliamentary position, but he disclosed it selectively to those speaking Chinese.
Yang has acknowledged the veracity of these reports, including that he was a member
of the Chinese Communist Party, but claims he ceased his affiliation after leaving

Appendix 2

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