New Zealand's international reputation has been damaged by a recent spate of thefts against Chinese visitors in Auckland, said Chinese Foreign Ministry officials.
Gao Mingbo, spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand said yesterday that Chinese officials have met with senior officials from New Zealand including Tourism New Zealand and the New Zealand Police, to urge them to take effective measures to prevent such cases.
The Chinese Consulate-General in Auckland has received several complaints since early this year from Chinese delegations who have reported cars being broken into or bags snatched. The Auckland thieves made off with large sums of US dollars, passports, video cameras and plane tickets, Gao said.
In another incident, all the luggage from a 10-person delegation was stolen when their vehicle was broken into as they dined at a restaurant in Newmarket. Delegations from Beijing and Chongqing as well as an economic delegation from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were also robbed on Mount Eden's summit.
Gao said the thieves are targeting Asian visitors, particularly Chinese, assuming they have a lot of cash on hand.
Luo Tianguang, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Monday following a meeting with New Zealand officials in Beijing that the crimes have severely influenced normal exchanges between the two countries and have also damaged New Zealand's international image.
The New Zealand Herald quoted Consulate spokesman Li Zhenqing as saying the crimes were bad publicity for the country and have caused "great difficulties" for the victims.
(China Daily July 11, 2002)
