Stuff
Oliver Lewis05:00, Jul 11 2020
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel has forcefully rejected allegations by China politics expert Professor Anne-Marie Brady.
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Daziel has vehemently rejected an allegation she was part of efforts to censor and blacklist a prominent academic at the request of Chinese Community Party (CCP) officials.
The claim was made by Chinese politics expert and University of Canterbury Professor Anne-Marie Brady in her submission to the Justice Committee as part of its inquiry into the 2019 local body elections.
In her submission, Brady alleged that in 2015 Chinese government officials put pressure on the University of Canterbury, Antarctica New Zealand, Dalziel, and New Zealand diplomats in China regarding her unpublished research on China and Antarctica.
She went on to claim “all these government agencies and officials complied with the CCP government’s request to attempt to censor and blacklist me”.
Dalziel responded forcefully in a written letter to the committee, stating the allegation was untrue, would seriously damage her reputation, and formally requesting that the committee return the submission to Brady and ask that she remove it.
In her letter, Dalziel said the allegation would “seriously damage my reputation in a way that inflicts harm”.
She said: “I stand accused with complying with a request that was never made of me, in an attempt to censor and blacklist her, something I couldn’t and wouldn’t ever do.
