By Duncan Garner
The Prime Minister has asked Parliament's speaker Lockwood Smith to review and possibly tighten security at Parliament.
The request follows last Friday's one-man protest by Green Party co-leader Russel Norman, who waved a Tibetan flag in the direction of the Chinese vice-president.
Dr Norman claims he was assaulted by Chinese security guards, and the Government claims he provoked it.
Prime Minister John Key has apologised to the Chinese delegation for failing to provide adequate security at Parliament. Dr Norman says that's pathetic.
"The craven apology from the Prime Minister was disgraceful, rather than protecting free speech in this country," says Dr Norman.
Mr Key has now asked speaker Smith to review security rules for visiting foreign dignitaries.
"We need to make sure that visitors know when they come to New Zealand that their dignity can be protected," says Bill English, "including when they are on the grounds of Parliament."
The Government believes Dr Norman abused his position as an MP to get close and provoke an incident.
Mr English says he's viewed footage of the incident and says Dr Norman started it.
Dr Norman has support from Labour's Phil Goff.
"There were mistakes on both sides, but the Chinese security guard had no right to seize the flag," says Mr Goff.
But Mr Goff's support is qualified. He says Dr Norman should have taken the same approach former Greens co-leader Rod Donald took during a protest against China's human rights record at Parliament in 2005 – non-confrontational.
Dr Smith is expected to tighten the rules for future visits from foreign dignitaries, so incidents like the one that happened on Friday don't happen again.
There's no doubt the Government is sensitive towards upsetting China, some say overly so. But Dr Norman says Mr Key's apology was unnecessary, and the Chinese haven't yet apologised to him.
3 News