Four New Zealand politicians have been barred from entering China for a year after they visited Taiwan last September, but China's embassy says the ban could be reduced or lifted if the MPs apologise.

The four MP's facing the sanction are Maureen Pugh, David Wilson, Laura McClure, and Labour's Duncan Webb.

Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee told Andrew Dickens, "I think it's disappointing because we have a very different political system to their own and MPs in New Zealand can make their own decisions about these sort of invitations that come periodically."

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