Beijing denies threat as FBI opens new office in New Zealand to ‘counter China’

China has accused the FBI chief of asserting “groundless” vilification and claims that Beijing is a threat after the American security agency opened its first permanent office in New Zealand.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on Thursday it had opened a dedicated attaché office in Wellington, where it had for eight years deployed staff under its Australian division.

It brings to an end the South Pacific country’s status as the only member of the “Five Eyes” alliance without a stand-alone station of the US law enforcement body. The intelligence-sharing group also includes the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia.

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Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, characterised the upgrade as a “historic moment” which showed the world that the agency “is actually prioritising a permanent presence across all Five Eyes countries”.

“Some of the most important global issues of our times are the ones that New Zealand and America work on together,” he said in a video, which was circulated by the Pacific nation’s public broadcaster RNZ on Thursday.

Patel, a widely recognised loyalist of US President Donald Trump, added that “countering the CCP in the Indopacom [the US’ Indo-Pacific Command]” topped the list, referring to an abbreviation of the Communist Party of China widely used by Washington and its allies.

The Chinese embassy in Wellington said it had taken note of assertions made by Patel.

“We strongly oppose any attempt to make groundless assertions or vilification against China out of the Cold War mentality,” the embassy said in a statement on Thursday. “Such acts are against people’s will and are doomed to fail.”

South China Morning Post