New Zealand faces toughest security challenges:report
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service report said there was almost certainly undetected espionage activity harming the country's interests and that foreign states continue to target critical organisations, infrastructure and technology to steal sensitive information.
"Some states, including China, Russia and Iran, are willing to engage in covert or deceptive activity in order to influence discussions and decisions, or gain access to technology and information that can help them meet these goals ... New Zealand has been targeted by some of these activities," the report said.
China was a particularly "assertive and powerful" actor in the region and had demonstrated both a willingness and capability to undertake intelligence activity that targets New Zealand's national interests, it added.
The Chinese Embassy in New Zealand did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report, titled New Zealand's Security Threat Environment, is released annually as part of a government shift to better inform New Zealanders about risks the country is facing.
The country, part of the Five Eyes intelligence and security alliance, has increasingly amped up its rhetoric over the growing influence of China in the region and a rise in geopolitical tensions, committing earlier this year to spend more on defence.
Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton said the threats need to be taken much more seriously than they are currently.
"Our threat environment is deteriorating and that has a direct impact on our safety and security," he said in a statement released alongside the report.
The report also pointed to the growing threat of violent extremism and said the most plausible attack scenario remains a lone actor who has been radicalised online.
"Grievances and polarising issues in the online information space are almost certainly driving support for a range of violent extremist ideologies within New Zealand," the report noted.
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One connects Qinghai to Henan province. Two more are planned, including one to Guangdong province in the southeast, almost at the opposite corner of the country. Making full use of the power is hindered by the relatively inflexible way that China's electricity grid is managed, tailored to the steady output of coal plants rather than more variable and less predictable wind and solar, Myllyvirta said. "This is an issue that the policymakers have recognised and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates," he said. "So it's no small task." Chinese government officials have shown off what they say will be the world's largest solar farm. It's on a Tibetan plateau and covers 610 square kilometres, which is the size of Chicago. China has been installing solar panels far faster than anywhere else in the world, and the investment is starting to pay off. 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