New Zealand MP Winston Peters accused of racism over Wong ‘joke’

A high-profile New Zealand lawmaker was accused of racism on Monday after making what he called a “joke” at the expense of Asians as he railed against Chinese investment in the country’s farming sector.

New Zealand First party leader Winston Peters told his campaign launch in Auckland on Sunday that he wanted to tighten restrictions on foreign ownership, telling the audience: “As they say in Beijing, two Wongs don’t make a white.”

The comment was labelled “disappointing and shameful” by New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner Susan Devoy, while the ACT Party accused Peters of inciting hatred against Chinese ahead of a general election on September 20.

“Mr Peters may think it is funny to tell weak racist jokes but it is not funny to New Zealand’s Chinese community,” ACT Deputy Leader Kenneth Wang said.

“Every time Mr Peters stirs up anti-Chinese feeling he gives racists in the community encouragement to attack Chinese. I have reports of Chinese women being abused in the street (and) young louts going into Chinese shops to abuse shop keepers.”

Peters, a long-standing anti-immigration campaigner who in the past has warned about New Zealand becoming an “Asian colony”, said his critics were lacking a sense of humour and claimed he was originally told the joke by a Chinese man in Beijing.

“The reality is a Chinese guy thought it was a joke, he told me that and I thought it was funny, so did my colleagues,” he said.