I’m really unhappy at the influence Communist China seems to wield over the National Govt.

It is obvious China is gearing up for war or belligerent behaviour towards her South China Sea neighbours and Taiwan, and where do NZ politicians think any such conflict is going to leave NZ and The United States?

There are already disagreements with the US over military expansion in the region.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Washington is concerned China is using its “sheer size and muscle” to push around smaller nations in the South China Sea, just hours after Beijing gave a detailed defense of its creation of artificial islands in the contested waterway.

China’s rapid reclamation around seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea has alarmed other claimants, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and drawn growing criticism from U.S. government officials and the military.

While the new islands will not overturn U.S. military superiority in the region, workers are building ports and fuel storage depots and possibly two airstrips that experts have said would allow Beijing to project power deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Other nations such as Singapore, Japan and Taiwan know what China is up to. Why is the NZ government apparently so unaware?

A post I did a few days ago clearly indicates what China is doing in respect of building influence in the Pacific.

Now we have the news from Northland by-election maestro Steven Joyce that twenty schools across New Zealand have received NZ$50,000 in total to strengthen their Chinese sister school relationships.

“It is important that New Zealand builds strong people-to-people links with China, which is now one of our largest trading partners,” Mr Joyce says.

“Having more New Zealand school students building a personal understanding of China and its people is an investment in the future of New Zealand in this Asia-Pacific century.”

“In China strong personal relationships are essential. The initiatives supported by this funding will foster learning opportunities and links between our two countries.”

I presume the Nat govt is fully aware of the fact that China’s policy of engagement with the West is a strategy to ensure the strengthening of Communism within China and also its expansion globally?

“Sister school partnerships are designed to benefit participating schools from both New Zealand and China, and will help ensure that we have the cross-cultural understanding and language skills to see our good relationship thrive,” Mr Joyce says.

The Communist Chinese are already infiltrating many of the education networks in existence in the Pacific islands. Personally, I don’t want to see them anywhere near NZ schools, or NZ school children anywhere near Chinese schools. The National party needs to wake up to what is really driving China’s seemingly innocuous willingness to engage with the West.