US is spying on you, China tells New Zealand

In an extraordinary letter, Beijing’s ambassador told Kiwi MPs the US has been carrying out ‘massive, non-discriminate wire tapping’ against its allies.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attend a joint press conference in Parliament House in Canberra. China have written to NZ claiming the US are conducting widespread surveillance on its allies.

China has sent a letter to New Zealand MPs accusing the US of “massive, non-discriminate wire-tapping and secret theft operations globally, including against its allies”, arguing Washington had used the downing of a Chinese spy balloon as an excuse to impose sanctions on Chinese companies.

In the three-page letter seen by The Australian, China’s ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong claimed the US was the “absolute No. 1 country in terms of spying and surveillance”, and its “clear over-reaction” in shooting down China’s balloon was a threat to world peace.

“The US also used the incident as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions over Chinese companies and institutions, which have undermined China’s sovereignty, security and legitimate rights and interests,” the letter read, blaming “Anti-China forces in US” for “exaggerating or hype up the “China threat” narrative”.

“A healthy and stable China-US relationship is in line with the common interests of the two countries, and also comply with the common expectation of the international community including New Zealand”.

Members of the Biden administration, including representatives from the Defense Department, briefed Senators on China and the recent suspected spy balloon that was shot down.

The letter comes amid a war of words between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese balloon, which was shot down on 4th February off the coast of South Carolina after spending days floating above the US, including Montana, where the US stations missile facilities.

Simon O’Connor, a New Zealand Nationals MP, confirmed he had received the letter, and speculated it had been sent to MPs with foreign affairs interests or responsibilities.

“It’s not unusual for the Chinese embassy here to share their views with us from time to time,” he told The Australian.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who postponed a trip to Beijing after the discovery of the balloon, said China’s foreign Minister Wang Yi offered “no apology” to the US after a face-to-face meeting between the two top diplomats in Munich on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).

“There‘s no doubt in our minds at all that, A: this was a surveillance balloon. And B: it was attempting to engage in active surveillance,” Mr Blinken told reporters at the security conference, expressing concern that Beijing would seek to provide Russia – Beijing’s ally – with “lethal assistance” in its war on Ukraine.

A suspected Chinese spy balloon in the sky over Billings, Montana. China have since accused the US of being the world’s “absolute No. 1 country in terms of spying and surveillance”.

China’s ambassador in the letter – entitled “Much Hot Air about Nothing? ----Some Observations on the Balloon Saga” reiterated Beijing’s earlier claims the balloon’s path over the US was “purely unintended, unexpected and isolated event due to force majeure” and accused the US of flying balloons over the US.

“Since May last year, the US has released a large number of high-altitude balloons from its territory, which continuously circled the globe and illegally flown over China’s airspace, including Xinjiang and Tibet, more than ten times without the approval of relevant Chinese authorities,” the ambassador claimed.

New Zealand’s increasing closeness to the Chinese government – the Labour government refrained from joining Australia and the US in condemning China’s treatment of the Uighurs and its human rights abuses in Hong Kong, for instance – has periodically raised concerns among its Five Eyes partners, who share top secret intelligence.

“New Zealand could be stronger against China for sure, it’s one of my disappointments,” Mr O’Connor told The Australian.

The New Zealand embassy in Washington DC appeared to be unaware of the letter.

“World peace and stability should not be the price of US’s seeking of dominance … We firmly oppose to [sic] what the US has done and urge the US not to take further actions that could undermine China’s interests or escalate tensions,” Ambassador Wang Xiaolong concluded.