Chinese dissident snubbed by MPs

The Government yesterday chose to snub China's most famous exiled dissident, Wei Jingsheng, saying it would not fall for a political stunt.

Mr Wei, a pro-democracy activist, was in Parliament's galleries when Act MPs attempted to get their parliamentary rivals to acknowledge and welcome the man Act leader Richard Prebble described as the "Chinese Nelson Mandela".

But they were met with silence.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Phil Goff said Labour had decided not to fall for "a political stunt simply designed to embarrass the Government".

He said the Government was not scared of the Chinese Government, which imprisoned Mr Wei for a total of around 20 years for his protests against it.