Mr English has just returned from a trip to Beijing and Xining, where he was encouraging trade and research links between New Zealand and China.
His visit coincided with the re-ignition of a debate on foreign investment in residential property in New Zealand, which was fuelled by the release of data by the Labour Party which showed a large proportion of Auckland homes were being bought by people with Chinese surnames.
Mr English said Chinese officials were "too polite" to raise any formal concerns about the heated discussion taking in New Zealand.
"It wasn't raised with me in formal meetings. But there was a bit of background comment - not so much about whether it's an issue, because all around the world there's issues about the rising prices of housing in the big cities, and in a number of places the discussion about the role of Chinese buyers in that, so that's not new.
"There were a few comments about the tone, that it seemed more hard-edged than in most places."
The minister would not say who expressed concerns, only saying that it was "Chinese people who knew about New Zealand".
Mr English said he did not need to do "damage control" on behalf of the Government.
He also did not try to dissuade Chinese investors from pouring their money into Auckland's overheated housing market.
"We welcome investment that's going to lift our economy, but I certainly wasn't there marketing our real estate as an investment opportunity," he said.
Little stands by releasing info
Labour leader Andrew Little said he did not believe Labour was damaging New Zealand's reputation.
"Information is information, and we thought very carefully before we released it. But the information told a story that was in direct contradiction to what the Government has been saying for the last couple of years, which is that the impact of the non-resident foreign buyers on the Auckland housing market is barely noticeable."
Mr Little said he was travelling to China later this year and he would test Government's claim that Labour's release of real estate data had raised concerns amongst Chinese.
"We cannot be constrained about putting important information into the public arena ... because people don't want to upset the Chinese Government," he said. "That's not the basis on which we conduct debates in New Zealand."
Mr Little became combative when TV3 political editor Patrick Gower suggested that Labour had "cooked up" the statistics for political gain.
"Let's get the language right. I'm not going to stand here and have a desperate TV3 reporter use inflammatory language on this.
He added: "This is how the debate gets out of control. You get a TV3 journalist who wants to make a name for himself obviously, running that sort of line.
"We can't have professional, political gallery journalists turning up here using language like 'cooked up figures'."
The Labour leader said that the party knew there was a potential for a xenophobic response if the data was released. But the figures on purchases of Auckland homes by people with Chinese surnames were too significant for Labour to be afraid to release the information, he said.
"Sometimes in this job you've got to do stuff that is tough. That is uncomfortable, but you do it because there is an important nub of an issue there."
- By Isaac Davison of the New Zealand Herald
