China rejects New Zealand espionage claims

China's embassy in Wellington has rejected New Zealand intelligence claims that Beijing stepped up espionage activity in the country, calling the allegations groundless.

New Zealand's Security Intelligence Service warned in an annual report this week that China was conducting espionage against the country "at scale". The agency also said Beijing's spies were seeking to recruit people with access to state secrets on professional networking sites.

In response, a spokesperson for China's embassy accused the intelligence service of joining a wave of "attacks, slander and vilification" against China. The spokesperson said the allegations either portrayed normal exchanges as espionage or were fabricated.

The intelligence service also said it had disrupted an attempt by the Chinese military-linked Purple Mountain Observatory to set up Ground Based Space Infrastructure covertly in New Zealand. It said a local company involved was likely unaware that the equipment would be able to collect intelligence of "military value".

The embassy statement came weeks after it raised an official complaint over Foreign Minister Winston Peters telling a Chinese-born lawmaker to "go back to your own country".