Four New Zealand MPs banned from China for one year after Taiwan visit
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Four New Zealand MPs have been banned from China for one year after visiting Taiwan as part of a cross-party Parliamentary delegation.
The MPs who took part in the five-day visit in May were National’s Maureen Pugh, Labour’s Duncan Webb, ACT’s Laura McClure and NZ First’s David Wilson.
The delegation was part of 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.
The ban was announced in an email to the affected MPs from a manager within the Office of the Clerk, which takes care of procedural aspects of Parliament.
The email, seen by Stuff, said the Office of the Clerk had a meeting on Tuesday with officials from the Chinese Embassy, a request made by the embassy itself to share some “important key messages”.
As a result of that meeting, it said the Chinese Government had decided to deny the four MPs entry to China, Hong Kong and Macau for one year.
The embassy said that if the members apologised, the “sanctions concerned” may be “suspended or cancelled”.
The embassy added it would not be “publicly sharing” the announcement.
One of the MPs to be banned, ACT’s Laura McClure, told Stuff she was “surprised to say the least”, as many other New Zealand MPs had travelled to Taiwan and not been banned.
“There was nothing specific about this trip that made it any different to any of those other trips that we quite often frequently take, so I was surprised.”
McClure said the trip was about New Zealand’s economic and cultural partnership and how that could be developed further.
“Of course, there were all kinds of other discussions around like-minded democracies, for example, but the focus of the trip was really strengthening the relationship, and in particular that trade factor.”
Relations with Taiwan are a sensitive issue for the Government. Like many countries, New Zealand acknowledges - but does not necessarily accept - China’s “one China policy,” under which China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory.
Taiwan is self-governing and sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
New Zealand maintained an economic but not diplomatic relationship with Taiwan, in accordance with China’s requirement of countries it has diplomatic relations with.
Asked whether this was a factor in China’s decision to ban the four MPs, McClure said “it could be”, but that MPs should be free to travel to Taiwan.
“While we definitely value our relationship with China, we should be free as members of Parliament and individuals to travel to Taiwan to discuss our economic relationship with Taiwan.”
China has criticised New Zealand MPs over previous visits to Taiwan and meetings with Taiwanese officials.
In 2025, a similar visit by MPs was criticised by the Chinese Embassy as violating the “solemn political commitments made by New Zealand to China”.
Stuff has approached the National, Labour and NZ First parties for comment, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Wellington.
An earlier version of this story said the New Zealand Government “recognised” China’s “one China policy”. The Government’s position is that it “acknowledges” China’s position, which is distinct from acceptance. (Amended 7.40am on June 4, 2026)