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Speaker 1: Okay, China's ambassador is accusing our spies of harassing a

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Speaker 1: Chinese citizen at the border. He says the sis questioned

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Speaker 1: the man without cause and then confiscated his devices, some

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Speaker 1: of them he hasn't been able to get back yet,

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Speaker 1: Sas Minister Judith Collins, though, says New Zealand has the

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Speaker 1: right to protect its own borders. John Battersby is a

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Speaker 1: security expert and teaching fellow at Massi University and with US.

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Speaker 1: Hello John, Hello, what do you think has gone on here?

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Speaker 2: I don't think too much has gone on here. I

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Speaker 2: think the Minister is correct. New Zealand has the right

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Speaker 2: to protect its borders from any number of risk that sees.

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Speaker 2: It could be biosecurity, it could be organized crime, it

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Speaker 2: could be could be anything. So we've got the right

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Speaker 2: to do that, and clearly that's what our agencies were

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Speaker 2: doing on this particular occasion. I'm surprised a little bit

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Speaker 2: that the embassy has made at public that somebody was

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Speaker 2: stopped and questioned. I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen to everybody,

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Speaker 2: but it would happen feeling routinely in a number of countries.

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Speaker 2: I would have thought so I think it's a little

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Speaker 2: bit more than it needs to be to be fair.

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Speaker 1: What do you think then is going on here? Is

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Speaker 1: this a sign of increasing tensions between New Zealand and China?

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Speaker 1: Like stuff that they would normally let slip they are

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Speaker 1: not going to tolerate.

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Speaker 2: I think there seems to be a little bit of

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Speaker 2: surface level tension going on. At the moment. There was

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Speaker 2: the threatened Environment assessment, there was the journeys to know

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Speaker 2: all about that, and then this has sort of comment. So, yes,

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Speaker 2: a little bit of surface level tension. China is our

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Speaker 2: strongest export market, it's our largest trading partner. We are friends,

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Speaker 2: we are not enemies. So I would say surface level

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Speaker 2: tension and likely to be dissipated as long as nobody

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Speaker 2: makes eating more of it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, brilliant, Hey John, always good to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, John battersby security expert and teaching fellow at

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Speaker 1: Massive University. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen

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Speaker 1: live to news talks the'd be from four pm weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.