Isolating China will not help Hong Kong or Uygurs, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says

The Netherlands is among EU nations most closely intertwined with Chinese production chains

China has been accused of running a forced labour programme in Xinjiang targeting minority Uygurs and crackdowns in Hong Kong

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Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says the EU should address its concerns with China but not isolate countries that do not live up to European standards. Photo: dpa

Published: 11:54am, 26 Jun 2022Updated: 2:14pm, 26 Jun 2022

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he opposes reconsidering trade relations with China over its policies towards its Uygur minority and Hong Kong.

Rutte, whose country is among the European Union member states most closely intertwined with Chinese production chains, said the EU should address those topics but should not isolate countries that do not live up to European standards.

His comments feed into Europe’s reassessment of individual and collective relations with China triggered most immediately by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Cutting ties with China will not “help anyone in Hong Kong or the Uygurs,” Rutte said in Brussels after an EU summit.

“This is one of the reasons I believe the EU should be more of a geopolitical powerhouse, that we have to develop our own policies toward China, in close connection with the US,” he said.

The Netherlands was the biggest importer of goods from China in 2021, according to EU data. China is the country’s third-biggest trade partner after neighbours Germany and Belgium.