Chris Minns has used a social media platform popular with Chinese to distance himself from comments made by Labor leader Michael Daley over Asian immigration.
Mr Minns, who unsuccessfully contested the leadership against Mr Daley late last year, wrote in both Mandarin and English on WeChat.
Mr Minns said Mr Daley had said he "made a mistake talking about Asian immigration in that way" and had apologised for causing offence.
"I want to make clear I love my community because of its wonderful Chinese character and heritage, not despite it," he wrote.
Mr Minns said his critics called him "Ho Chi Minns" because of his advocacy of the Chinese and he was regularly attacked by right-wing anti-immigration groups and accused of being a "Chinese collaborator".
Mr Minns said on Wednesday morning he had no further comment.
On Tuesday, Mr Daley repeatedly apologised for his comment, caught on video and shown by 9 News, in which he said Asians were "taking local jobs" and young people were leaving Sydney and being replaced by foreigners.
Mr Minns, in his inaugural speech in Parliament in 2015, called for ''a big and bold decision'' to make Mandarin a compulsory subject in all NSW schools.
Mr Minns said Kogarah was home to people from all over the world and 61 per cent of residents spoke a language other than English at home.
It had the highest percentage of Chinese Australians in the country at a time when China was emerging as a major economic power.
