Pure idiocy from Conservatives who have spent too much time reading the Telegraph.

They complain NZ hasn’t stood with Australia or spoken out on China. Incorrect. NZ issued two joint statements with Australia in recent weeks on Hong Kong and the Uyghurs. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300284578/jacinda-ardern-savaged-as-british-parliament-declares-treatment-of-uyghurs-genocide

Something the New Zealand coverage tends to miss from this ‘controversy’ is that it is entirely driven from the Murdoch press in Australia and the Telegraph in the UK rather than anything real. Both are nativist, right-wing populist outlets of a sort we don’t tend to see in NZ.

The question here is not about whether New Zealand speaks up about human rights and democracy in China - we do. The issue is about whether we have an independent foreign policy. Last time I checked, there was no decision to outsource it to a Five Eyes with an expanded remit.