That is, the specific treaty pertaining to (extradition of) Hong Kong(ers), though I immediately assumed it was the *particular law that the John Key Government had enacted vis-a-vis extraditing Chinese nationals 'at trouble at home' (i.e. in and with the Chinese Governmental authorities)...back to Mainland China to face what would doubtless be 'rough justice' (to put it mildly) in their original homeland...
Yes, Deputy P M Winston Peters deserves nothing but commendation - and received the same from a plethora of people, including former National leader Simon Bridges among others, whose sole criticism - of it being a little late (if certainly the right and proper move to make) - cannot really be faulted, though Peters' (needed) 'machinations' thereabouts with coalition partners obviously necessitated much manoeuvring and finely-niched consultations - to avoid upsetting the apple cart, so to speak (due to needing to get the likes of the normally outspoken Greens to agree thereto, though perhaps in this case it was more a matter of placating cooler, more pragmatic (or, rather, wishy-washy and politically expedient ) heads within Labour)...
Yes, Winston most definitely 'made the right call', while - some/certain - nit-picking commentators, experts, political pundits and other policy wonks busied themselves splitting hairs and attempted - wholly unsuccessfully, I have to add - to besmirch him by damning his move with **faintest praise. As per usual.
But what conceivable alternative option could 'New Zealand Inc' pursue but to follow the United Kingdom and Australian governments' lead in effectively ripping up our own erstwhile version of said extradition treaty with the Central Chinese Communist Government, thus no longer enabling or facilitating the extradition/repatriation of Hong Kong residents here - and other NZ-based Chinese nationals - 'bequeathing' these (perhaps generally perfectly innocent) folk at the request of supposedly justice-seeking authorities in Mainland China...
...knowing full well the likelihood that compliance therewith - as with the five booksellers in Hong Kong a few years ago - would doubtless result in unfair trial and conviction, imprisonment and even death...
*...a law that at the time it was enacted I felt to be insulting, humiliating and obsequious - not to mention obscene and disgusting (and all the rest)...
...one of the particularly low moments of that Government, alongside the disgraceful lowering of the national flag to half-mast upon the death of the then Saudi crown prince (I believe)...
...alongside the equally disgraceful 'pulling up' of the [immigration] drawbridge upon refugees from war-torn lands such as Iraq and Iran (etcetera), nay from places that had undergone ethnic cleansing/genocide no less, (around 2010-2012 or so), despite Prime Minister Key's own grandmother (I believe) herself escaping thus to a safe harbour/haven in God's Own as a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust...
**However, listening in to RNZ National this very morning, I personally don't buy Peters' suggestion or rather explanation that our Government is ***not obligated, as per the UK for instance, in going even further and providing safe haven here for Hong Kongers (in HK itself) as per the UK and Oz are doing...
***I should correct that in this way: no, we're most certainly not legally obliged to do so - Peters' is eminently correct in that assertion, it's fairly incontrovertible...but many folk would suggest there's a much deeper obligation, and that's one called doing the decent thing, and that by any folk anywhere suffering unjust persecution and oppression...
...though in the current rather febrile and fevered atmosphere surrounding the ongoing, never-ending (anytime soon) covid crisis one can hardly see him receiving almost any let alone undue flack thereabouts...
Yes, Deputy P M Winston Peters deserves nothing but commendation - and received the same from a plethora of people, including former National leader Simon Bridges among others, whose sole criticism - of it being a little late (if certainly the right and proper move to make) - cannot really be faulted, though Peters' (needed) 'machinations' thereabouts with coalition partners obviously necessitated much manoeuvring and finely-niched consultations - to avoid upsetting the apple cart, so to speak (due to needing to get the likes of the normally outspoken Greens to agree thereto, though perhaps in this case it was more a matter of placating cooler, more pragmatic (or, rather, wishy-washy and politically expedient ) heads within Labour)...
Yes, Winston most definitely 'made the right call', while - some/certain - nit-picking commentators, experts, political pundits and other policy wonks busied themselves splitting hairs and attempted - wholly unsuccessfully, I have to add - to besmirch him by damning his move with **faintest praise. As per usual.
But what conceivable alternative option could 'New Zealand Inc' pursue but to follow the United Kingdom and Australian governments' lead in effectively ripping up our own erstwhile version of said extradition treaty with the Central Chinese Communist Government, thus no longer enabling or facilitating the extradition/repatriation of Hong Kong residents here - and other NZ-based Chinese nationals - 'bequeathing' these (perhaps generally perfectly innocent) folk at the request of supposedly justice-seeking authorities in Mainland China...
...knowing full well the likelihood that compliance therewith - as with the five booksellers in Hong Kong a few years ago - would doubtless result in unfair trial and conviction, imprisonment and even death...
*...a law that at the time it was enacted I felt to be insulting, humiliating and obsequious - not to mention obscene and disgusting (and all the rest)...
...one of the particularly low moments of that Government, alongside the disgraceful lowering of the national flag to half-mast upon the death of the then Saudi crown prince (I believe)...
...alongside the equally disgraceful 'pulling up' of the [immigration] drawbridge upon refugees from war-torn lands such as Iraq and Iran (etcetera), nay from places that had undergone ethnic cleansing/genocide no less, (around 2010-2012 or so), despite Prime Minister Key's own grandmother (I believe) herself escaping thus to a safe harbour/haven in God's Own as a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust...
**However, listening in to RNZ National this very morning, I personally don't buy Peters' suggestion or rather explanation that our Government is ***not obligated, as per the UK for instance, in going even further and providing safe haven here for Hong Kongers (in HK itself) as per the UK and Oz are doing...
***I should correct that in this way: no, we're most certainly not legally obliged to do so - Peters' is eminently correct in that assertion, it's fairly incontrovertible...but many folk would suggest there's a much deeper obligation, and that's one called doing the decent thing, and that by any folk anywhere suffering unjust persecution and oppression...
...though in the current rather febrile and fevered atmosphere surrounding the ongoing, never-ending (anytime soon) covid crisis one can hardly see him receiving almost any let alone undue flack thereabouts...
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