Editor’s note for Thursday, May 6, 2021

My thoughts today:

“New Zealand will have some kind of dustup with China,” we predicted in January in our Red Paper. “So far, the South Pacific country led by popular prime minister Jacinda Ardern has — alone among its Five Eyes allies — managed to maintain smooth relations with Beijing. Can this last?” we asked.

No, it could not last.

“China has slammed New Zealand parliament’s motion condemning Uyghur human rights abuses,” reports Al Jazeera, even though “Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling Labour Party insisted any reference to genocide was scrubbed out of the motion, which was submitted by a minor opposition party.”

In our Red Paper we also suggested that China-Germany relations may also suffer a setback. This appears to be happening, if in slow motion.

Meanwhile, the Australia-China relationship continues its slide downhill.

Our word of the day is “Australia is responsible for all this“ (澳方必须对此承担所有责任 ào fāng bìxū duì cǐ chéngdān suǒyǒu zérèn) — see our top story for details.

Speaking of Australians making trouble, the latest Sinica podcast is hosted by me with guests Australian China scholar Geremie Barmé (who now lives in New Zealand) and New York-based writer Zhā Jiànyīng 查建英 on the Chinese statesman-philosopher Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief