Back in court for publishing dissent, again?!

Remember me? With your help, the Free Speech Union successfully defended me after CCP lackey Morgan Xiao tried to silence me earlier this year using New Zealand’s Harmful Digital Communications Act.

Well, here we are again, but this time, a different, cunning CCP lackey is after me. 

I don’t know whether any journalist in New Zealand has ever faced two lawsuits of defamation from the same individual at the same time – one in the Auckland High Court and one in the Auckland District Court – but that is what I am facing.

Why? Because I published two critical articles on the news site I work for, this time about Frank Qiang Fu, who is incredibly unhappy about this. All I have done is report on matters that are in the public interest. His response has been to try to shut me down through legal pressure. 

Frank Fu has been politically active in the Chinese community here in New Zealand.

He stood as a candidate in both the 2022 local body election and 2023 general election (as an independent). He is the head of two incorporated societies that he has registered: the New Zealand Chinese Union Association and the Chinese Association Anti-Corruption of New Zealand. 

He’s used the latter to issue unofficial “notices” on the Chinese social media platform WeChat featuring the NZ Police logo, prompting Police to clarify that his organisation has no connection to the New Zealand Police in any way. They included that Mr Fu "does not have any powers of arrest.” 

Frank Fu claims a hefty list of credentials that to me and many others, sounded very suspicious. So, I got to work, exposing most of the claims to be false or unverified, backing this up with evidence. In a democracy, you do not have to simply accept claims made by those running for positions of power.

The day my report was published, Mr Fu demanded that I prepare at least NZ$500,000 in compensation for defaming him, adding that if I didn’t have enough money, he could shift the case to a lower court.

Later, he posted a screenshot in a WeChat group showing he paid NZ$1,329.20 to the High Court the same day my article was published.

I should add – Frank Fu has been harassing me online and encouraging others to do the same since the middle of 2024, when my name was listed under ‘Researcher’ in Stuff’s documentary ‘The Long Game’ that investigated China’s influence in NZ.

Mr Fu declared himself my “moral enemy”, and in another comment, he said, “Tear off your mask, you can’t fake it anymore! I’m not pretending either; I’m a staunch defender of China.” 

His accusation against me is purely politically motivated, aimed at intimidating and silencing a journalist who refuses to share his values. 

Mr Fu was not content with filing a lawsuit against me in the Auckland High Court, so he added me as a second defendant in another defamation case in the Auckland District Court a couple of months later, the very day I published another opinion article critical of him, contributed by a local Chinese writer.  

Why am I telling you this?  

Because New Zealand laws are open to abuse. They are freely being weaponised by those who support China’s authoritarian regime. How is this consistent with New Zealand’s liberal democracy?  

Even former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere publicly challenged Mr Fu's credentials. One of the titles he promotes, Life Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), can be purchased online. Yet in Chinese, he translates it as the very prestigious “院士” (Yuan-shi, Academician), a term that implies a merit-based, nationally recognised academic honour in China. 

No evidence supports his claim to be a professor at Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. His PhD remains unverified, and he is yet to provide a certificate to the Chinese community.

During his campaign for Auckland councillor in 2022, he displayed a photograph of himself wearing a PhD gown on his campaign board. The gown bears little resemblance to that of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and instead appears more similar to the academic regalia of the University of Auckland.

I wrote to NZQA to verify his PhD. They initially refused both requests under the Official Information Act, and the copy Mr Fu submitted to the court had a blurred section, leaving me unable to verify the evidence he is using to sue me.

Eventually, NZQA did supply this document, revealing that the blurred section said, “This evaluation was conducted using information provided by the applicant and does not guarantee the authenticity of any awards.” So, that explains Mr Fu’s secrecy!

At this point, it is clear that the lawsuits are not about seeking the truth. They are about pressure. 

While Morgan Xiao’s attempts to use the courts for similar purposes have failed, Frank Qiang Fu has continued relentlessly. His litigation is frivolous and vexatious, wasting valuable judicial resources and sending a chilling message to members of New Zealand’s Chinese community: 

If you dare to question or criticise people like him, you will face serious consequences.

You cannot have a healthy democracy if journalists and community members fear challenging political candidates' background will land them in court.

When I immigrated to New Zealand in 1999, I believed I had come to a country where I could live in peace and enjoy true freedom and democracy. I never imagined I would one day find myself in a courtroom, defending my right to free speech again and again.

Public figures should expect scrutiny. They should expect to justify the titles and authority they claim to hold. The legal system should not be a weapon to silence freedom of the press.

I attended the hearings at the Auckland District Court in October and November. We expect to hear an outcome in a month. During the hearing, Frank Qiang Fu behaved aggressively. At one point, he even threatened to sue the solicitor defending me, which prompted an immediate warning from the judge.

As the Free Speech Union's previously said, “New Zealand, like many other liberal democracies, has made it ridiculously easy for such stooges of ruthless authoritarian regimes to manipulate our laws, our media, and politicians for subversive ends.”

If we allow lawsuits like these to intimidate critics, we will lose the open debate that keeps our society honest. 

Thankfully, I have not faced this dark chapter alone. I am genuinely grateful for the ongoing support from the Free Speech Union and its supporters. The messages they left have deeply touched me.  

I truly don’t know how I would have managed without the FSU. You can contribute to their work to protect our voices here.

The fight continues – but so does our resolve. 

Portia Mao | Journalist and Proud FSU Member