Members of the country's Chinese community are calling for Foreign Minister Winston Peters to be sacked from Cabinet after telling a Chinese MP to "go back to your own country".

Some said they would consider shifting their allegiances in the upcoming election due to the lack of action from the current government.

Last week, Peters told Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country" and "go back to where you've come from" during a parliamentary debate.

The comments have sparked concerns amongst politicians, community leaders and members of the public.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called Peters' comments "racist" and "offensive", but noted the comments were made in his New Zealand First capacity.

Luxon has not sacked him and hasn't ruled out working with New Zealand First in any form of coalition agreement after the upcoming general election.

More than 200 people gathered in a social media group over the weekend to raise concerns about the comments, which they said were racist, harmful and unacceptable.

Many of them have emailed Luxon, calling for Peters to be removed from his ministerial roles.

Auckland resident Yue Chen was among those who wrote to Luxon, saying she felt angry and offended as the comments had come from a high-profile official.

"Other people who support him might think that's acceptable and they might do that to other people who work with them or their children might say similar things in school to Chinese students or other ethnic students," Chen said.

"That would be really bad."

Chen asked Luxon to act in her email, as Peters' comments not only hurt migrants' feelings but also damage the relationship between China and New Zealand as he is foreign minister.

"First of all, he should apologise to the Chinese community, and also apologise to Xu-Nan formally," she said.

"He should resign or be dismissed from his position [to send] a signal to our society that this is not correct," she said.

"This [kind of behaviour] needs to stop and shouldn't happen again."

Chen, a National supporter, said she had started to consider voting for other parties, and she wouldn't vote for National if it continued to work with New Zealand First.

Another group member, Arthur Liu from Auckland, shared similar sentiments.

Although the prime minister had called Peters' comments racist, Liu said the lack of consequences was problematic.

As a country of migrants, inclusion should be one of New Zealand's core values, but Peters' comments spoke to the contrary, Liu said.

He said the prime minister shouldn't prioritise political gains over these values.

Peters' comments were "rude" and "wrong", shaking migrants' confidence to help build the country, Liu said.

"I hope Mr Peters will apologise for his speech officially, and promise he doesn't do it again," he said.

"I also hope the prime minister will take some strong action on this."

A National supporter, Liu said this issue would also affect how he would vote in the upcoming election.

Waikato resident Toki Li said Peters' comments were "unacceptable" and the fact that he was able to stay on in his role would also change how he would vote.

"The prime minister's words ... showed that he's willing to abandon the Chinese community and keep the door open to strike a political deal with Peters in the upcoming election," Li said.

He said he had been a National supporter, but would not vote for the party this time.

Aucklander Joe Hu said he had considered voting for New Zealand First after losing confidence in National, which he had voted for in the past.

Hu said he liked the party's idea of putting New Zealand first when many people had left for Australia, but the party's stance on the topic of race had always been a hurdle.

"[New Zealand First] has only become more extreme on this issue, so I would hardly even consider looking further into its policies," he said.

If the government failed to respond appropriately, Hu said he might not vote for either party.

Luxon said he had yet to speak with Peters about the issue.

Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong told RNZ her party would not support a government that had Peters as foreign minister.

"As we've always said, we will sit down and try to find common ground, and that remains the case with New Zealand First," she said.

"However, I think that his role as Minister of Foreign Affairs has become untenable, and so we wouldn't want to be part of a government where he is still in that role."