clipped from: www.stuff.co.nz Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen yesterday compared China's refusal of a visa for Capital Chinese News editor and political activist Nick Wang to the Government's 2004 denial of entry to British historian David Irving, a convicted Holocaust denier.
Wang had sought a visa to cover Prime Minister Helen Clark's China visit for the signing of the New Zealand-China free-trade agreement.
The deal, to be signed on Monday, comes amid international concern over China's bloody crackdown in Tibet.
Wang is a New Zealand citizen and outspoken critic of Beijing's human rights record. He has campaigned against closer ties between New Zealand city councils and their Chinese counterparts.
Despite being a member of the press gallery covering Parliament, he was evicted in April last year by police from a photo opportunity with visiting Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan.