A Fugitive for Freedom
Not every day do you get to share a stage with a fugitive from the Chinese Communist Party.
But that’s exactly the privilege I enjoyed this past Saturday when I spoke at the International Symposium on Countering Foreign Interference.
I say “privilege” because Mr X is not some run-of-the-mill criminal, but a man with a CCP-ordered bounty of more than a $1,000,000 on his head for his work as a democracy activist based in Taiwan. If he steps foot into any country which is party to an extradition treaty with China, he will almost certainly be detained and made to “disappear.” With a massive social media audience, he is reaching Chinese speaking young people with a message of defiance and hope. To put it simply, Mr X is a thorn in the side of the world’s largest authoritarian regime.
Does he admit to being daunted at times by this prospect? Of course.
But, as he pointed out to us, freedom comes at a cost and faint hearts won’t get the job done.
Humbling is a radical understatement for how I felt taking the podium after such an impressively courageous and determined individual. Yet the opportunity to share what PILLAR is doing here in NZ to counter foreign interference was critical and I was thereby able to present to an audience of globally respected experts and campaigners, many of whom are also targets of the CCP - academics, activists, investigative journalists, current and former NZ MPs - how PILLAR’s proposed Foreign Influence Transparency (FIT) Bill will be world-leading.
Our FIT Bill brings together the best elements of transparency laws from the UK, Australia, and the U.S. (while avoiding their weaknesses and pitfalls) in a way that holds malign influencers to account, doesn’t penalise good faith actors, and still manages to honour the spirit of our own Bill of Rights Act. In consultation with some of the best minds internationally in this field, our FIT Bill will require lobbyists, influencers and proxies acting in NZ on behalf of, or in the interests of, foreign governments and their subsidiaries to register and declare the specifics of their political influence activity to the NZ Ministry of Justice.
Furthermore, an enhanced tier is created in the Bill whereby anyone acting in the service of a single-party or non-democratic regime (think China, North Korea, Russia, Iran) to effect any kind of influence in NZ must register influence activities of any kind (think corporate, education, and NGOs - not just politics). The Ministry of Justice would also then be required to publish a public list of those registered influencers who seek to run as a political candidate in NZ general or local authority elections. Failure to declare such activity risks serious penalties from $600,000 fines to up to three years in prison. The FIT Bill contains vital checks and balances consistent with NZ’s civil liberties’ tradition. This point is crucial as often laws of this kind have cast too wide a net or failed to differentiate between benign and malign forms of influence.
The Foreign Influence Transparency (FIT) Bill! Want to get an exclusive look? You can see it HERE!
The obvious question is: will a new law mean that people engaged in nefarious activity suddenly start admitting publicly they’re up to no good? Isn’t that a bit naive?
Sure, if that was the goal. But that’s not the point of the FIT Bill. While NZ needs a baseline from which our various agencies can start to investigate possible malign activity, it’s actually the failure of malign influencers to disclose activity which gives NZ the legislative muscle to hold malign actors to account.
We’ve got a range of MPs from across most of NZ’s political parties who are now seriously looking at our Bill. It ought to go without saying that it won’t be popular with some of their colleagues. And as our FIT Bill gains more momentum, pay close attention to those who come out swinging against it. You might be surprised at just how defensive some of our opponents will be. Consider whether their criticisms are actually in the best interests of our democracy and sovereignty. Or if it has something to do with their prestigious board seats, lucrative sinecures and university endowments for which they’ll have to account.
At PILLAR we refuse to pull any punches. A robust democracy depends on transparency, accountability and integrity. If we don’t know who is influencing major decision-making in this country, we can’t claim to be a sovereign liberal democracy. To stand firm, it takes the kind of courage embodied on that podium last Saturday. Thank you for standing with us in that fight.
Together, that is how we move toward a freer tomorrow and a democracy we can all be proud of.
