Kash Patel Causes Unease in New Zealand

FBI Director Kash Patel provoked diplomatic discomfort in New Zealand by suggesting the opening of a new office in the capital aims to counter China's influence, drawing polite dismissals from Wellington and ire from Beijing. Patel was in Wellington on Thursday to open the FBI's first standalone office in New Zealand and to meet senior officials. The Wellington office will provide a local mission for FBI staff who have operated with oversight from Canberra, Australia, since 2017. In remarks published Thursday by the US Embassy, Patel said the office would help counter Chinese Communist Party influence in the contested South Pacific Ocean. The remarks prompted awkward responses, the AP reports.

• New Zealand ministers who met Patel, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to visit New Zealand, quietly dismissed his claims. A government statement Thursday emphasized joint efforts against crimes such as online child exploitation and drug smuggling, with no mention of China. "When we were talking, we never raised that issue," Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday.
• Judith Collins, minister for the security services, said the focus would be on transnational crime. "I don't respond to other people's press releases," she said when reporters noted Patel had mentioned China.
• Trade Minister Todd McClay rejected a reporter's suggestion Friday that Wellington had "celebrated" the office opening. "Well, I don't think it was celebrated yesterday," he said. "I think there was an announcement and it was discussed."

• China's embassy in New Zealand said it had "taken note of the assertions by the American side," RNZ reports. Transnational crime is a common challenge encountered by all countries requiring cooperation to tackle," a spokesperson said. "We believe that relevant cooperation should not target any third party. And we strongly oppose any attempt to make groundless assertions or vilification against China out of the Cold War mentality."
• New Zealand, the smallest partner in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group of nations, has faced ongoing pressure to align with US stances on China, its largest trading partner, while carefully balancing relations with Beijing.
• Online, the new office drew rancor from New Zealanders who posted thousands of overwhelmingly negative comments about the announcement on social media sites. A weekend protest against the opening was planned. Young said it was unlikely people posting in anger took issue with cross-border law enforcement efforts in general. "I think it would be more a reflection of some of the deep unease that many people in New Zealand see with some of the political choices that are being made in America at the moment," he said.