Media commentators, aid agencies and the UN itself have made it plain that Israel's actions go way beyond anything that can rightly claim to be self-defence, and include violations of international and humanitarian law.

Israel's present government has a wider agenda.

It is also widely acknowledged that the only reason why Israel can continue its pursuit of that agenda is because the USA continues to supply it with the means of doing so - even as it speaks of the need for the war to stop.

Even allowing for Mr Biden's own domestic reasons for wanting an end to the war, it is nevertheless hard to avoid the impression that USA's much publicised pursuit of cease-fire talks is not much more than an attempt to pre-empt ‘day-after' charges of complicity in war crimes, because the reality is that the USA could stop the war tomorrow if it was really serious about doing so.

I realise that NZ is in a difficult position because of its dependence on USA for security and trade.

But when the ‘day after' does come, hopefully history will show that we at least did what we could within our limits.

For too long - decades - western nations have looked the other way while Israel continued to encroach on Palestinian lands and destroy Palestinians' livelihoods and lives.

In that way we helped to breed Hamas and Hezbollah. The present problem did not begin on Oct 7th 2023.

I understand there is an established protocol that entitles/requires you as Minister to call any Ambassador to account for unsatisfactory conduct by that Ambassador's country.

If that is correct, has the United States' continuing support for Israel's actions which responsible judicial bodies have condemned met the requirement for activating that protocol?

Does not the USA's ambassador owe it to allies like NZ, and to fair-minded Jewish people living in this country, to explain the USA's double-speak - i.e. professing its desire for a cease-fire while enabling Israel to continue what it is doing?

The USA's contempt for the role of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court is equally despicable, and all the more because of the impotence of the UN itself.

Perhaps the ambassador could even explain how Mr Biden's self-confessed position as a Zionist is consistent with his talk of a two-State solution, given that Zionism does not allow for a two-State solution.

I'm sure there would be plenty to talk about!

With good wishes,

Peter Cullinane, Bishop Emeritus, Catholic Diocese of Palmerston North

The New Zealand intelligence agency's annual security threat report says a top concern is ethnic Chinese communities being targeted by people and entities linked to Beijing.

Elsewhere around the world, reports about China's influence and information operations in Western countries note that there are covert Chinese police stations in major cities, harassment of places that host dissidents and media disinformation campaigns.

Reports confirmed to Radio Free Asia's Asia Fact Check Lab show Beijing deploys cash, aggressive diplomats and boycotts to produce China-friendly press coverage and deter critical reporting.

Chinese diaspora communities in Western democracies are targeted.

Controlled

Two ex-pat newspaper publishers found their thriving publications subject to blacklists and advertising boycotts.

Their papers were popular with New Zealand's Chinese community.

Professor Anne-Marie Brady from Canterbury University has tracked how the Chinese Communist Party works with or buys local Chinese-language media outlets to exert its influence.

She found Auckland's leading Chinese language paper, the Chinese Herald, has close personal links to the Chinese consulate. It "works with the All-China Federation of Overseas Chinese" Brady says.

"The paper...has been steadily 'harmonised' with Chinese media control agencies."

She has identified party links to influential Mandarin media outlets in New Zealand.

Diverging views

Here and overseas, Xi's authoritarianism, nationalistic foreign policy and the pandemic have soured public opinion toward China.

A 2021 Pew Research Center poll found 67 percent of New Zealanders hold negative views of China. Up to 80 percent believe in speaking against China's human rights violations despite it being our biggest trading partner.

Yet 10 years ago the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre says we saw China as "a great opportunity".

Taiwan's Doublethink says over 60 percent of Chinese respondents in New Zealand expressed positive views of China.

Doublethink Lab has identified traits in people susceptible to the Chinese Communist Party's information outreach.

These are: a low sense of belonging in New Zealand; participation in Chinese communities; systematic Mandarin learning; familiarity with Mandarin media in New Zealand; getting news from Chinese social media platforms.

"For older generations of Chinese immigrants, the rise of China has given them renewed confidence," an ethnicity researcher says.

Restoring the glory

Most new Chinese immigrants rely on WeChat and Mandarin communities for their information, making them soft targets for Communist Party's information warfare.

Xi has always targeted diaspora Chinese. He put the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office under the United Front Work Department, a body within the Chinese Communist Party.

He pushes information outreach. His notion of all Chinese "working together to restore the glory of China" resonates with some of New Zealand's Chinese community.

Propaganda

Questions about human rights violations and Hong Kong's destroyed democracy are answered with propaganda.

Ideas and slogans from the China Global Television Network are remembered and repeated.

"China has brought tens of millions of people out of poverty and they've never invaded any countries... unlike the British and European colonisers.

"They only have bad things to say about China.

"Present-day China wouldn't be possible without the Communist Party!"

Source

• Radio Free Asia