China bans four New Zealand lawmakers after their visit to Taiwan

The Five Eyes intelligence alliance, comprising the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, has issued a joint warning regarding Chinese online espionage. The alliance alerted that Chinese military intelligence services are aggressively utilizing professional networking sites and online job platforms, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork, to recruit current and former government and military personnel. These recruitment efforts aim to acquire privileged military, political, and economic intelligence by having agents pose as representatives of private consultancies or human resources firms and pressuring targets for non-public information.

Concurrently, China has imposed a one-year travel ban on four New Zealand lawmakers, preventing them from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. This action follows their recent visit to Taiwan in May. New Zealand's Foreign Minister expressed surprise at these unprecedented bans, noting that parliamentary visits to Taiwan are a long-standing practice and are not considered inconsistent with New Zealand's "One China" policy. Chinese authorities reportedly indicated the bans could be lifted if the lawmakers apologized, though one affected lawmaker has publicly stated she will not apologize.