PARLIAMENT Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican today defended Wisma Putra's move to call in Chinese envoy Huang Huikang over his controversial visit to Petaling Street describing it as a normal practice.

He said the move was undertaken to give justice to Huang by seeking seeking clarification over various issues which lead to the formation of public opinions.

"This was seen as prejudgement? No, not at all," he said, adding that Putrajaya did not judge Huang before listening to his explanation.

He blamed the printed press, particularly Chinese papers, for wrongly reporting the incident. "A lot of mistakes were made," he said.

"A Chinese daily apologised to me for reporting that I had signed a letter calling in the ambassador, which I did not. The ambassador was called in at the official level," he added.

Reezal cited one report which said, 'When Chinese from China are under attack, the Chinese government will not sit idly by' and this had created contention.

"(We) called him in to seek clarification based on public opinions which had already been formed," said Reezal in his speech when winding up the Budget 2016 debate at the committee stage at the Dewan Rakyat.

"If you ask diplomats from all over the world, (they will tell you) this is a normal practice," he explained, adding that Malaysian envoys sent overseas were often similarly called in.

"Calling in an ambassador is not only a normal practice but a healthy practice when it comes to international diplomacy.

"Indeed, this was meant to give justice (to Huang). But unfortunately, the ambassador went to see another minister instead. It was later misconstrued as though we had prejudged the matter."

Reezal was referring to Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz, who criticised Reezal for summoning Huang, when the Foreign Minister Anifah Aman was overseas, and another minister Hamzah Zainuddin was appointed as acting foreign minister.

However, Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) disagreed that calling in the ambassador was something normal, claiming that this had resulted in some tension between both countries as China officials made statements in support of Huang.

She said it was as if Malaysia wanted to show it was superior to the communist country, by calling in Huang.

But Reezal hit out at Kok for this, saying this was an assumption made in bad faith.