Do not give China a free pass on human rights, protest group tells G20

Legislators from 14 countries were joined by political exiles to demand that other G20 members hold China to account for suspected human rights abuses
The meeting comes amid reports of Chinese intransigence in talks to reach a deal on climate at the G20 and the subsequent COP26 summit in Glasgow

G20

Finbarr Berminghamin Rome

Published: 3:09am, 30 Oct 2021

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As world leaders prepared to gather in Rome for the G20 leaders’ summit, they were urged to not give China a free pass on human rights in exchange for its cooperation on issues like climate change.

At an event just metres from where US President Joe Biden was holding bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, legislators from 14 countries were joined by political exiles from Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang to demand that other G20 members hold China to account for suspected abuses in these regions.

“The one subject they don’t appear to be discussing at the G20 is really the elephant in the room, which is what are we going to do going forward about the terrible misbehaviour of arguably one of the most important nations of all, which is China,” said Iain Duncan Smith, a former British Conservative Party leader.

“So, we’re here to remind our leaders at the G20, that the subject that they don’t want to talk about, we are going to talk about it because it is vital to human rights, to economics, and to climate change.”

“The one subject they don’t appear to be discussing at the G20 is… the terrible misbehaviour of arguably one of the most important nations of all, which is China,” said Iain Duncan Smith, a former British Conservative Party leader. Photo: EPA-EFE

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, by video link, addressed the meeting hosted by the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a self-styled “anti-Chinese Communist Party” group of politicians from more than 20 countries worldwide. The event was partly funded by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, an NGO with links to the government in Taipei.

Wu has been on a whistle-stop tour of Europe this week, taking in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and Brussels in an effort to drum up support for expanding Taipei’s ties with the European Union.

He described the European Parliament’s landslide vote to adopt its first ever position paper on Taiwan as “a milestone in efforts to stand up to the authoritarian challenge”.

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“Taiwan is not alone. Even democracies such as Lithuania and the Czech Republic are not free from the behaviour of the People’s Republic of China,” Wu said, referring to Beijing’s reaction to both countries’ efforts to expand ties with Taipei.

“China has taken on other nations to deflect attention on the pandemic’s origin. Meanwhile, it preaches that authoritarian systems are superior to democracy,” Wu said.

He welcomed Western efforts to increase shipping patrols in the South China Sea and doubled down on a campaign for the EU to begin preparation for a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan.

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An EU spokeswoman said the bloc has no intention of embarking on negotiations, or even preparation for a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan.

“There is no convincing economic rationale for negotiating an investment agreement with Taiwan. The EU is already the largest source of foreign direct investment in Taiwan,” said Miriam Garcia Ferrer, a spokeswoman in the EU’s department of trade.

IPAC, which was founded a year ago and which recently confirmed funding from the National Endowment for Democracy and billionaire philanthropist George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, used the event to announce its first members in India.

It also launched a new scheme issuing “do not extradite cards” to activists, political and religious figures deemed to be at risk of arbitrary deportation to China, amid fears that China is using bilateral extradition treaties to target dissidents overseas.

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A first round of 37 cards have been issued to figures including Hong Kong protest leader Nathan Law and the UK director of the World Uygur Congress Rahima Mahmut, warning that countries “complying with the arrest, deportation, or extradition of this individual” will be “held to account in the respective legislatures” of the IPAC network. It aims to issue 3,000 cards by the end of the year.

Hong Kong democracy campaigners led by Law demanded the West use Magnitsky-style human rights sanctions on Hong Kong government officials. Tibetan political leader in exile Penpa Tsering also urged the G20 to address abuses in China, saying that “the values you cherish in your own country should be available to others”.

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The meeting comes amid reports of Chinese intransigence in talks to reach a deal on climate at the G20 and the subsequent COP26 summit in Glasgow.

Bloomberg cited officials saying that China, India and Russia were refusing to commit to more ambitious targets on global warming and also digging in on the use of coal.

European Council President Charles Michel told reporters that “some of the members of the G20 are reluctant to write some words when it comes to subsidies for fossil fuels for example”.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will attend the summit this weekend by video link, Beijing confirmed on Friday.

Xi spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson by phone on the eve of the diplomatic flurry.

Johnson raised concerns over “the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong and human rights in Xinjiang”, while also agreeing to “cooperate on areas of shared interest, such as developing clean and green technology and supporting the sustainable recovery of the global economy”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.