Academic Claims Police Silenced After Break-Ins Tied to CCP Interference Research
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In 2017, Brady released her paper, “Magic Weapons: China’s Political Influence Activities Under Xi Jinping (pdf),” but her home would later be burgled twice (in December 2017 and on Feb. 14, 2018) with her laptop stolen.
Her car was also tampered with and she received a written threat.
The professor from the University of Canterbury maintains CCP agents or sympathisers were likely involved, and despite complaining to police, they were apparently unable to deal with it openly.
“I thought our police were part of that, and then we discovered, ‘Oh my God, they have been infiltrated ...’” she said in her address to the “Upholding Liberty, Countering Interference!” symposium in Auckland last month.
“I had some good police officers who knew straight away, and they saw what was going on, but they couldn’t, in New Zealand’s situation, say it out loud, and they told me about problems with New Zealand Police that were worrying them terribly,” she said.
Brady said law enforcement had steadily come to a different understanding of the situation, noting they were “reluctantly changing.”
She said that over the last decade, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) had appeared before parliamentary inquiries to address foreign interference from Beijing.
“We’re just gonna keep the pressure on them, because we need them to be what we think that they are, which is defending our interests, and defending our laws,” Brady said, adding that her country’s intelligence services needed the “public license” to continue their work in this area.
The Epoch Times contacted New Zealand Police for a response.
At the time, then-Detective Superintendent Stu Allsop-Smith said there were no further lines of inquiry to pursue. “Police have taken these incidents very seriously and a lengthy, detailed and extensive investigation has been conducted,” he said, as reported by RNZ.
“This has involved all necessary police resources including detailed forensic analysis, interviews and expert advice.
Xi Accelerates Foreign Interference Overseas
Brady’s 2017 paper explored CCP leader Xi Jinping’s decision to accelerate foreign interference activities.“Even more than his predecessors, Xi Jinping has led a massive expansion of efforts to shape foreign public opinion in order to influence the decision-making of foreign governments and societies,” Brady wrote.
“Xi Jinping’s ambitious strategy to harness the overseas Chinese population for the CCP’s current economic and political agenda, builds on existing practices and then takes it to a new level of ambition.”
In 1999, the CCP began a nationwide persecution against practitioners, which has seen millions arbitrarily detained, tortured, subjected to forced labor, and even killed for their organs to fuel the regime’s lucrative transplantation industry.
No actual harm has occurred.
“The People’s Republic of China’s United Front Work Department (UFWD) is an example of an organisation that engages in foreign interference activities,” the agency wrote in its Annual Threat Assessment 2025.
Former MP Urges Public to Educate MPs
Another speaker at the symposium, Simon O’Connor, former MP for the National Party, called on his countrymen to speak out. “We can do at least two things. We can speak up, for in whenever we can, and draw attention to the injustices. The freedom to believe is a foundational human right,” he said in his speech.
“Secondly, we must ensure that our freedoms here in New Zealand are protected ... we must encourage friends and family to express these freedoms as well.”
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Former MP Simon O’Connor speaking at the symposium titled 'Upholding Liberty, Countering Interference!' in Auckland, New Zealand, on Feb. 21, 2026. Zhao Kai/The Epoch Times
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During this year’s election, O’Connor said there was scope to engage with parliamentarians.
“Invite them to your events, while also warning them of those community associations which have ties to the CCP,” he said.
“As we all know, such groups use MPs to give themselves legitimacy, both as individuals and groups. We know the chilling effect on our local communities when MPs are seen cozying up with CCP-aligned individuals.
“I do want to stress, many MPs, councillors and mayors do not fully appreciate this. And so each of us has a role to educate them.”
Margo MacVicar contributed to this report.
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