There is concern from the Commonwealth Press Union over the banning of a Chinese reporter at a press conference at parliament on Monday night.
Accredited press gallery reporter and writer for Wellington paper Capital Chinese News, Nick Wang, was expelled from a photo opportunity between Michael Cullen and the deputy premier of China, Zeng Peiyan, by parliament's police and security after Chinese officials claimed he was a security threat.
But Wang managed to capture the incident on camera and is now demanding an apology from police and Speaker of the House Margaret Wilson. He claims a Chinese official singled him out.
The head of the parliamentary press gallery met with Wilson on Tuesday to stress all journalists have a right to cover what happens in parliament, and to make sure the incident does not happen again.
Union Media Freedom Committee chairman Tim Pankhurst says the diplomatic protection squad exceeded its authority by escorting the reporter from the event.
Pankhurst backs attempts to get assurances that there will not be a repeat of the incident.
Green MP Keith Locke says footage of the incident shows parliament's police telling Wang that Chinese officials had threatened to cancel their meeting if he stayed to take photos. He says that is disgraceful.
Locke says it is clearly political pressure from a foreign power on parliament and that cannot be accepted.
Party co-leader Russel Norman says Labour is sacrificing free speech in order to get a free trade deal with China. He says it is similar to the National government's treatment of protesters during the 1999 visit of Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin.
"China needs to know we protect free speech. When they
come to New Zealand they're going to hear people who disagree with
them," Norman says.
Finance Minister Michael Cullen denies the government took orders
from Chinese diplomats. "That is not the situation. People
overreacted to a situation, that's most unfortunate."
The prime minister, who met the vice premier on Tuesday afternoon, is also distancing herself from the incident.
"We really don't know the circumstances - we don't know whether they were alarmed by his behaviour," Helen Clark says.
Wilson has now launched an investigation into exactly what happened.
