New Zealand would look "a little silly" if it bowed to threats by Fiji's army chief to retaliate against sanctions imposed by New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday.

Commodore Bainimarama threatened last week to retaliate after Parmesh Chand, the new head of the Fiji Prime Minister's Office under Bainimarama's government, was denied entry to New Zealand to visit his family.

Clark said Australia, Canada, the United States, the European Union, South Africa, the United Nations, and the Commonwealth had all taken a similar position to New Zealand in reacting strongly to Fiji's coup.

"Frankly I think it would make New Zealand look a little silly if we were suddenly to bow out because Bainimarama made a threat," Clark told New Zealand National Radio.

She said Fiji's interim leadership needed to show the international community how it planned to return the country to constitutional government following the coup on Dec. 5 last year.

New Zealand banned travel here by anyone appointed to the new administration.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2007)