Four MPs have been banned from China for visiting Taiwan

The sanctioning of four New Zealand MPs for visiting Taiwan could be a sign that smaller allies are no longer exempt from China’s pressure, Henry Oliver writes in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.

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In the NZ Herald last night, Thomas Coughlan reported that four New Zealand MPs have been banned from China for a year after visiting Taiwan. Act’s Laura McClure, NZ First’s David Wilson, Labour’s Duncan Webb and National’s Maureen Pugh visited the island in May as part of what Sam Smith, reporting for Stuff, identified as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan, a cross-party group launched in 2023 to coordinate legislative relations, soft diplomacy and economic cooperation between New Zealand and Taiwan.

Why can’t New Zealand MPs visit Taiwan?

Well, they can. And they do. But New Zealand has maintained a ‘One China’ policy since establishing formal diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1972, officially acknowledging China’s position that Taiwan is part of its territory, but – as MFAT clarified – acknowledging is not the same as accepting.

New Zealand maintains economic but not formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and MFAT said that parliamentary visits to Taiwan are “not inconsistent” with the One China policy, noting that MPs are independent of the government and responsible to their constituents rather than to Beijing. “It is up to MPs to make individual decisions about how they respond to invitations to travel in their capacity as MPs,” the MFAT spokesperson said.

McClure told the Herald the ban amounted to “a type of foreign interference” and described herself as “shocked,” given the history of backbench visits. To Stuff, she emphasised the trip’s trade and economic focus, noting that MPs “should be free as members of Parliament and individuals to travel to Taiwan.” Wilson and Pugh declined to comment. Webb did not respond.

The punishment was not announced publicly by China – perhaps preferring soft but firm pressure over loud public condemnation. Stuff, which obtained an email sent to the affected MPs by a manager within parliament’s Office of the Clerk, reported that the Chinese Embassy had requested a meeting to share “important key messages”. The embassy also told the MPs that if they apologised, the sanctions could be suspended or cancelled. McClure said she would not be apologising.

Has this happened before?

Not quite. McClure told the Herald she was briefed by MFAT officials that this is the first time China has sanctioned a group of New Zealand MPs for visiting Taiwan – which MFAT confirmed. That said, the friction is not new. In 2025, a similar parliamentary delegation was criticised by the Chinese embassy as violating the “solemn political commitments made by New Zealand to China.” The Herald also noted that John Key visited Taiwan as a backbencher in 2003, as did Act’s Brooke van Velden before she became a minister, and neither faced consequences.

Is it just us?

Of course not. This case sits within a pattern of China using travel bans and sanctions as diplomatic pressure tools against western politicians. In 2021, China sanctioned nine British MPs and peers – including former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith – after they criticised Beijing’s human rights record in Xinjiang. Those sanctions were only lifted in January this year, following direct talks between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Xi Jinping: a reminder that once China imposes this kind of ban, removing it can require serious diplomatic work.

This is all happening in the context of heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, with President Lai Ching-te facing increasing Chinese military pressure, and US-China relations on a knife-edge over (among many other things) continued American arms sales to Taipei. Against that backdrop, China appears to be extending its pressure campaign beyond major powers to smaller allies, signalling that no country can be sure of avoiding consequences for engaging with Taiwan as though it were an independent state.