New Zealand’s top diplomat Winston Peters drew the ire of Beijing’s ambassador in Wellington yesterday after telling a lawmaker of Chinese descent to “go back to your own country”.

During a debate about New Zealand’s response to the Covid pandemic on Wednesday, populist NZ First leader Peters was asked by China-born Green Party member Lawrence Xu-Nan: “Are you vaccinated?”

In response, Peters said the lawmaker, who was born in the Chinese city of Tianjin but grew up in Auckland, had “come here five minutes ago”.

“Go back to your own country. That’s where they lie like a flatfish, but they don’t lie like that here,” Peters said.

The comments sparked a rare intervention from Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong.

Wang said on X yesterday that while he preferred to stay out of domestic politics, “suffice it to say, sometimes, a statement says more about the person that makes it than anything or anybody else”.