New Zealand's National Party leader and Prime Minister-elect John Key celebrates a landslide victory at the National election party during New Zealand's general election in Auckland September 20, 2014.
New Zealand's National Party leader and Prime Minister-elect John Key celebrates a landslide victory at the National election party during New Zealand's general election in Auckland September 20, 2014. Reuters/Nigel Marple

New Zealand’s Labour Party has targeted Prime Minister John Key for his alleged links with controversial Chinese donor Donghua Liu. In 2014, Labour was the target of attacks by the National Party for its association with Liu.

Former Labour leader David Cunliffe, has seemingly turned the tables against the Prime Minister after recent leaks showed Mr. Key and his party leaders had a fundraising dinner with the expat Chinese donor and got a donation, much to Cunliffe's delight.

Cunliffe had been under fire for links with Liu in 2014 and the allgations by National had caused the former Labour leader heavy embarrassment and political headache. He said "John Key is slippery. He had dinner with Donghua Liu and forgot to tell us,” reports 3 News.

But Mr Key had been in a denial mode about such links. In 2014, the issue had its rumblings in the political circles with calls made for Cunliffe’s resignation amid claims that Liu donated thousands of dollars to Labour. There was also a charge that Cunliffe supported the expat’s residency bid, which he denied though a letter later proved it was right.

Key Confirms

According to the latest revelations, Mr. Key had dinner at Liu's home and was followed by a $25,000 donation to National's Jami-Lee Ross. Key has now admitted that he attended the National Party fundraising dinner at Liu’s home. But in 2014, Key had been alleging that Liu was a big donor to the Labour Party, though there was little evidence of him having given any money to the Opposition, reports Radio New Zealand.

National started targeting Labour on Liu issue, after its minister Maurice Williamson resigned as minister, after it was revealed that he called police after Liu was arrested on charges of domestic violence.

Poetic Justice

Cunliffe said Labour was hurt by Mr. Key’s allegations that it had links with Liu. However, he is not impressed by the latest revelations concerning Mr. Key's links. "I think it's been a very disappointing issue. Disappointing firstly that the National Party was clearly telling lies while they were on the take and secondly that media swallowed it uncritically," Cunliffe said.

Mr. Key added another twist by saying that he believed the party at the businessman's house was a Cabinet Club dinner. Mr Key also played down Labour Party’s criticism about his links with Liu. "There's nothing new here. We were asked last year whether we went on a fundraising dinner. We said we did. That's a statement of fact.”

Not Convincing

However, Labour Party leader Andrew Little dubbed Mr Key's answers as vague and unconvincing. "Last year it wasn't a Cabinet Club. Now we seem to think it was a Cabinet Club and then perhaps it wasn't a Cabinet Club. It was in somebody's home," Little noted.

Little also alleged that Ross had to return the $25,000 donation from Liu after National got embarrassed with disclosures that exposed its links with the businessman.

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