China lodges complaint after New Zealand’s Winston Peters tells lawmaker to ‘go back to your own country’

China’s embassy in New Zealand has filed a formal complaint after Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told a Green Party lawmaker of Chinese descent to return to his own country during a heated parliamentary exchange.

The clash unfolded Wednesday when Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but raised in New Zealand, asked Peters during a debate over the country’s Covid pandemic response whether he was vaccinated. Peters, who leads the populist NZ First party, responded by telling Xu-Nan he had arrived in the country only recently and should return home, adding a remark suggesting dishonesty in China that does not apply in New Zealand. He went on to describe New Zealand as a democracy, in contrast to what he implied Xu-Nan was used to, and told him to go back to where he came from.

The remarks prompted an unusual public response from Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong, who said on social media that he generally avoids commenting on domestic politics but suggested the statement revealed more about the speaker than anyone else. China’s embassy in Wellington confirmed it had lodged a complaint with New Zealand’s foreign ministry over what it called negative China related remarks from a New Zealand politician.

Peters has stood by his comments, saying New Zealand’s democratic system protects free speech and rights that other countries restrict, at times through force. He said on social media that those offended by his remarks were welcome to the reality of living in New Zealand.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whose National Party governs in coalition with Peters’ NZ First, criticized the remarks as inappropriate attention seeking behavior.

This is not the first time Peters and his party, who hold significant influence as coalition partners in New Zealand’s fragmented political landscape, have faced accusations of racially charged rhetoric. Earlier this year, Peters’ deputy Shane Jones drew criticism for describing a free trade agreement with India as risking what he called a butter chicken flood. Last year, Peters and Jones faced backlash after Jones shouted at another lawmaker to send Mexicans home during a parliamentary debate, a comment aimed at a legislator who was actually born in the Philippines. Peters later told that lawmaker and Xu-Nan that they should show gratitude for being allowed to live in New Zealand.

The episode adds to a pattern of controversies surrounding minor coalition partners in small parliamentary democracies, where kingmaker parties often wield outsized influence despite representing a smaller share of the electorate, occasionally straining diplomatic relationships in the process.