EU lawmakers raise alarm on China’s efforts to ‘interfere in European democracies’
- Committee urges the bloc to set up a task force to monitor perceived threats
- Confucius Institutes accused of asserting strict control over research and teaching on China
European lawmakers have raised the alarm over what they say are Beijing’s growing efforts to disrupt democratic processes in the EU, amid a smattering of instances of alleged Chinese political interference across the bloc.
The recommendation comes after the committee sent a delegation to Taipei last week to “study Taiwanese experiences in addressing interference and manipulation campaigns”.
In a sign of the rising anxiety about Beijing, the committee’s 33-page draft report contained 40 references to China, more than twice the number of mentions made of Russia, which has long dominated the debate on foreign interference and disinformation in Brussels and other European capitals.
The report will be put to the parliament for a non-binding vote early next year.
The report’s lead author, Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian MEP and former foreign minister, said the EU was failing to keep up with technologically sophisticated adversaries, comparing efforts to contain disinformation and interference to “using a race car to catch up with a rocket ship”.