Turner Judy: Motions — Tibet—Protests 
Turner Judy: Motions — Tibet—Protests 
[Volume:646;Page:14955] 
JUDY TURNER (Deputy Leader—United Future) 
: 
 United Future joins with other parties in strongly condemning the actions of the Chinese Government and the People’s Liberation Army in quelling the protests in Tibet and Southern China. The right to political protest is a crucial plank of the right to freedom of speech and to see that suppressed through violent means indicates to the world that China has a long way to go before fully deserving the respect of the international community it so desperately seeks. 
At times like this United Future would expect to join all parties in strongly condemning the Chinese Government’s violent response to protests in Tibet. However it is sadly obvious that the Labour Government has bigger fish to fry than to uphold an oppressed people’s political freedoms and fundamental human rights. Worse still it appears to the world that New Zealand’s timid response has simply been bought by Chinese yuan. The response of the Government has been to stall saying that more information is needed. It is thinking that hopefully the situation will blow over and that maybe if the People’s Liberation Army can crush the dissension quickly enough it might be able to sneak over to Beijing sign on the dotted line and still gain the plaudits of being the first country to sign a bilateral free-trade agreement with China. How much is it to buy New Zealand’s moral conscience? It seems to be about $2 billion in real GDP terms if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has its figures right. 
New Zealand has a fine history of standing up for what we know is morally right. Let us take for instance the anti-apartheid movement the antinuclear stance or our annual commitment to refugees. However this Government seems reluctant to use its privileged relationship with China to express New Zealand’s outrage. Although United Future does not argue that we should cut off our nose to spite our face a free-trade agreement is a two-way street. At present the Government makes it seem as though China is doing us a favour but it must be remembered that China stands to increase its GDP by US$14.7 billion through this agreement. New Zealand is thus in a strong bargaining position—stronger in fact than most other nations. 
So we believe that it is up to this Government to strongly voice our nation’s concern. As a proud New Zealander the very least I would expect is for the Prime Minister to summon the Chinese Ambassador and in no uncertain terms express our nation’s disappointment and disapproval—or are we so subservient in this relationship that we cannot even do that? 
United Future leader Peter Dunne hosted the Dalai Lama last year—an honour made strange by the fact that the Prime Minister refused to meet with the Tibetan leader. At the same time not a lot was really made of this fact. Maybe now we are truly seeing which side of the fence this Government sits on. With our Government continuing to abdicate its responsibility in this regard it will now sadly be up to individuals and in particular athletes to voice our nation’s concerns. 
Although it is too late to question whether China should ever have been granted the Olympic Games the upcoming event is the obvious opportunity for New Zealand along with the rest of the international community to make a stand. The Olympic Charter states that any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race religion politics gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement. The charter states: “Blending sport with culture and education Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort the educational values of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.” The events in Tibet and countless other human rights violations in China not only now but historically have made a mockery of these words and ideals. I truly hope that New Zealand athletes are given the option and the opportunity to make peaceful protests if they so wish and that the New Zealand Olympic Committee backs them to do so in what I am sure will be challenging circumstances.