There were more MPs at this year’s Taiwan National Day celebrations in Wellington than I can recall in over 30 years of attending this annual event. And they all spoke, recounting favourably aspects of their Taiwan-government sponsored visits to the country, and their admiration for its democratic system of government. They represented all parties in Parliament except the Green Party, and Te Pati Māori (who were too busy fighting amongst themselves). It looked to be a clear sign of support across the House for Taiwan and its achievements.

No wonder the Chinese Government was annoyed. After all, the strong turnout of MPs at Taiwan’s National Day could be seen as a direct thumbing of the collective political nose at China’s constant attacks on any suggestion Taiwan be viewed as an independent state. However, the turnout probably had more to do with the fact that it was during Parliament’s dinner break, and this was a good function for MPs to attend at a nearby venue, before they returned to the House for the evening session.

Nevertheless, that did not stop the enraged over-reaction of the Chinese Ambassador to what happened. In an extraordinary letter to the MPs concerned he denounced their attendance at the function, rebuked them for their temerity in doing so, and warned them they were placing New Zealand’s critically important relationship with China at risk.

Unfortunately for him, all the Ambassador’s intemperate response has done is confirm how little he and his colleagues are prepared to understand how freedom of speech and association works in a democratic society like New Zealand. While China has every right to assert its view that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and that the resolution of the Taiwan issue is a matter for China alone to resolve, it has no right to expect its view to automatically prevail over the views of those in this country who hold a contrary opinion.

If MPs attending Taiwan’s National Day celebrations were interfering in China’s domestic affairs, as the Ambassador alleged, then his letter to them was by the same measure an unwarranted interference in New Zealand’s affairs, not to mention an attack on individual rights to freedom of thought and expression.

During my time as an MP, I visited Taiwan several times, meeting senior Ministers and officials, and attending a Presidential inauguration. As a Minister, I met at least one Taiwanese Minister in New Zealand, and on another occasion hosted a dinner where the Chinese Minister and his Taiwanese counterpart sat either side of me. None of those meetings provoked the type of response the Chinese Ambassador showed to recent events. Nor did they threaten or challenge New Zealand’s adherence to the one-China policy followed by all New Zealand governments since 1972. Rather, they focused on bolstering the mutual economic and cultural relationship between New Zealand and a valued trading partner, within the constraints of the one-China policy.

Over the years, both China and Taiwan have shown a commendable subtlety in managing their relationship which has worked well for both, as the increasing free flow of people and commerce between them shows. Countries like New Zealand are becoming well-versed in understanding the dynamic of that relationship and working alongside it. The biggest risk to destabilising the carefully crafted balance now in place is not the attendance of MPs at an annual function hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, but a blunderbuss intervention of the type it provoked from the Chinese Ambassador.

However, the saving grace is that in an open society like ours the overbearingly critical words of the Ambassador will quickly dissipate, unlike in China where a heavily managed state media would have made them far more ominous and threatening.

The future of China and Taiwan is for each to resolve. The last thing either need is the active intervention of external parties. But that does not mean, as the Ambassador fails to understand, that other countries or individuals within those countries cannot express or even hold a view on the situation. A peaceful and fair resolution of the tension is in all our best interests, hence the value of ongoing dialogue and association.

For New Zealand, as a small trading nation, maintaining open communication with both China and Taiwan is an important part of our ongoing trade and foreign policies. We need to have good relationships with both. Therefore, although the Chinese Ambassador’s outburst was ill-considered and unfortunate, it cannot be allowed to get in the way of our ongoing relations with both China and Taiwan.