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C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000295 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2028 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM NZ
SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND ELECTION 2008 - THE CHINESE VOTE 
 
Classified By: Consul General John Desrocher for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
This message was drafted by ConGen Auckland and approved by 
Embassy Wellington. 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary.  Asians make up nearly 10% of New Zealand's 
population, and most of them are Chinese.  Chinese are 
underrepresented in national politics, with only one member 
of parliament.  While Asian representation in parliament may 
improve this year because parties are diversifying their 
lists, New Zealand is likely to have only one more 
parliamentarian of Chinese heritage after November's 
election.  End summary. 
 
----------------------- 
Two Chinese Communities 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Asians have surpassed Pacific Islanders to become 
New Zealand's third-largest ethnic group, after Pakeha 
(Europeans) and Maori.  They make up 9.7% of the country's 
population, expected to grow to 16% in twenty years. 
Two-thirds of New Zealand's Asians live in the Auckland 
region; more than half identify themselves as Chinese. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) New Zealand's Chinese can be divided between those 
with deep roots in the country and more recent arrivals. 
Members of the first group trace their ancestry to the market 
gardeners and Otago gold miners that arrived in New Zealand 
as far back as the mid-19th century.  Their forebears 
suffered overt racism and often toiled in poverty on the 
margins of society. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Members of this group to this day often keep a low 
political profile.  While many enjoy a standard of living 
their grandparents could not have dreamed of, they often stay 
loyal to the Labour Party.  They remember Labour as the 
social welfare party that was most ready to help the working 
class and as the most racially tolerant party.  This loyalty 
is weakening as Chinese Kiwis grow wealthier and as the 
National Party leaves race-baiting in its past. 
 
¶5.  (C) The 70% of Chinese who arrived in New Zealand after 
1991 make up the second group.  Auckland University Professor 
Manying Ip calls this group "the 1.5 generation."  They were 
brought to New Zealand as children or young adults or were 
born here of recent immigrant parents.  Very often they come 
from families with means.  Many are professionals and live 
well.  While they too want to settle and raise families, they 
are less concerned than the first group with blending in.  Ip 
describes them as "well-educated...and highly aware of their 
rights."  It was this group that swelled the pro-China 
demonstration in Auckland during the controversy earlier this 
year over the Olympic torch relay. 
 
------------------------------- 
Few Chinese Faces in Parliament 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) While Asians, and Chinese particularly, are well 
represented in local politics, they are poorly represented at 
the national level.  Only one of New Zealand's 120 members of 
parliament is of Chinese heritage.  MPs and party leaders 
(particularly in the Labour Party) tend to be veterans of the 
party going back to their university days who went to 
Wellington and starting climbing the party ladder not long 
after their studies were finished.  Most of New Zealand's 
Chinese are recent arrivals who haven't had time to get very 
far up the ladder. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The introduction of proportional representation 
(MMP) in parliamentary elections in 1996 increased 
politicians' interest in minority communities.  That year the 
lone current Chinese MP, National's Pansy Wong, was plucked 
from Christchurch local politics and put on the National 
Party list.  Asians were sufficiently emboldened by MMP to 
launch a pair of ethnic parties for the 1996 election, but 
neither gained significant support.  Both quickly disbanded 
and no strictly Asian parties have been launched since. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Wong remains New Zealand's best known Chinese 
politician.  She will battle for an electorate seat in the 
2008 election in the Auckland constituency of Botany.  In 
2005, Wong failed to unseat Labour MP Judith Tizard from the 
Auckland Central electorate.  Wong entered parliament as a 
list, rather than as an electorate, MP.  (No Asian candidate 
has ever successfully contested an electorate seat.) 
National expects the Botany electorate to prove friendly 
ground for Wong.  It is a new electorate without an 
incumbent, and it has the second-largest Asian population of 
any electorate (and 80% of those Asians are Chinese). 
 
¶9.  (C) Until recently, it appeared that both of the major 
parties would choose Chinese candidates to contest the Botany 
electorate.  As noted, National would run Wong, and the 
Labour Party was expected to reach beyond its core and tap 
lawyer and radio personality Raymond Huo, a Beijing native, 
as its candidate for Botany.  The ACT Party, New Zealand's 
equivalent of a European liberal democratic party, is also 
likely to run a Chinese candidate in Botany, former MP 
Kenneth Wang.  In a last minute switch, however, Labour chose 
a little-known Auckland University professor named Koro Tawa 
over Huo to contest the Botany electorate. 
 
¶10.  (C) Huo nonetheless remains Labour's most important 
Chinese candidate.  Despite not getting the nod to run in 
Botany, Huo was given a far higher place on the party list 
than Tawa.  Indeed, Huo placed higher on the list than a 
number of veteran Labour MPs.  In a meeting with the CG, 
Huo's lack of partisan passion was notable.  While paying lip 
service to Labour policies, his remarks suggested he was 
drawn into politics not to support a particular ideology, but 
because the Chinese community's voice "was not being heard." 
Huo argued that National's Wong "does not connect well" with 
most Chinese New Zealanders because she's from Hong Kong and 
speaks Cantonese rather than Mandarin. 
 
¶11.  (C) Wang served as a list MP for ACT from 2002 from 
2005, but lost his seat when ACT's poor performance in 2005 
left it with only two seats.  Wang argues that ACT, because 
of its emphasis on free market principles, draws well from 
the business-oriented Chinese community.  Also, like Huo, 
Wang told the CG that Wong is "not Chinese enough" and that 
Botany's Chinese would prefer a Mandarin speaker like himself 
to a Cantonese speaker like Wong. 
 
------------- 
Law and Order 
------------- 
 
¶12.  (C) Wong's chances will be boosted by a spate of crimes 
against Asians in South Auckland.  Over the span of a few 
days in June, an Indian liquor store owner was shot to death 
in his shop, an elderly Chinese woman was murdered in her 
home by an intruder, and another Chinese woman was killed 
during a purse-snatching.  Labour's Huo confirmed that New 
Zealand Asians believe themselves to be particularly 
vulnerable to crime.  Many run small retail businesses and, 
added Huo, ethnic stereotypes come into play: criminals 
believe that Asians carry lots of cash and will respond 
passively if attacked.  Huo admitted that Labour's emphasis 
on rehabilitation of criminals over punishment goes down 
poorly in the Chinese community.  New Chinese immigrants come 
from cultures - China, Singapore - where criminals are dealt 
with much more harshly than in New Zealand, Huo said. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Comment:  A Little More Diversity 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶13.  (C) Wong's experience and name recognition, National's 
momentum, and the Chinese community's concern about crime 
will probably win the day for Wong.  Certainly, Labour's 
decision to run Tawa in Botany instead of Huo suggests Labour 
has concluded it can't beat Wong.  Thus it will run an 
unknown against Wong so that Huo can enter parliament as a 
list candidate untainted by a defeat in the Botany 
electorate.  Botany is likely the only electorate an Asian 
will win, but other Asians are likely to enter parliament as 
 
party list candidates.  National has put two new Asians 
(Indian Kanwal Bakshi and Korean Melissa Lee) high enough on 
its list that they will get seats if National performs well. 
As noted, Huo has been given a high enough place on Labour's 
list to virtually assure his entry to parliament, as has a 
new Indian candidate, Rajen Prasad.  Current Labour list MP 
Ahmed Chaudhry, despite an unimpressive record, has also 
maintained a place on the party list high enough to ensure 
his return to parliament. So, if the results unfold as 
currently expected, the new parliament will have six Asian 
members (two Chinese), vice the two Asian MPs in parliament 
today.  End comment. 
McCORMICK