Advertisement
Advertisement
China-EU relations
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Up to one million Uygurs in China’s Xinjiang region have reportedly been detained in political re-education camps, which China describes as vocational training. Photo: AP

Genocide claim ‘lie of the century’ says China in double serve for Europe

  • Beijing hits back at EU on two fronts with a blast at human rights criticism and the bloc’s new trade strategy
  • Cracks in relations have appeared just months after the comprehensive investment deal which has yet to be ratified
Two months after China and the EU struck an investment deal, cracks are appearing that could threaten relations between them.

The Chinese commerce ministry said on Friday that the European Commission’s trade policy strategy, released last week, was wrong to call China’s economic model of market capitalism and state intervention a challenge to the global order.

EU unveils new trade policy to blunt ‘negative spillovers’ from China

“Blaming the crisis facing the World Trade Organization on China not becoming a market economy is a baseless claim, we resolutely oppose it,” the ministry said in a statement.

On the same day, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin criticised the EU for pressing Beijing to give greater access to Xinjiang. Up to one million Uygur ethic minorities in the remote western region have reportedly been detained in political re-education camps, which China describes as vocational training.

“China welcomes and has invited the EU and embassies of member-states several times to visit Xinjiang … but it’s a shame the EU has repeatedly delayed and deliberately complicated the issue, time and time again making unreasonable requests,” Wang said.

“[The EU] even asked to meet with criminals that had been lawfully convicted of separatist activities … this appears to be a slighting of Chinese law, a provocative attempt at interfering in China’s legal sovereignty.”

Wang went on to address yesterday’s decision by the Dutch parliament to designate China’s policies in Xinjiang as “genocide”. The Netherlands is the first EU member-state to officially use the loaded term to describe the repression of ethnic minorities in China.

Dutch parliament declares China’s treatment of Uygurs is genocide

Wang said the idea of a genocide in Xinjiang was “the lie of the century deliberately fabricated by extreme anti-China forces”.

Beijing’s criticism comes at a time when EU-China relations face major roadblocks in Brussels. Although China eclipsed the US to become the European bloc’s largest trading partner in February, the ratification of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is still uncertain.

The deal has garnered significant support within Brussel’s two top policymaking bodies, the foreign policy-focused European Council and the trade-focused European Commission.

However, the European Parliament – the EU’s sole directly-elected institution – is filled with vocal China critics that have opposed the CAI since it was first announced in December.

What is the China-EU CAI and how is it different from a trade deal?

According to EU law, the European Parliament has the power to block deals such as the CAI.

Members of the parliament have voiced their opposition to the deal by criticising China’s soft commitment in ratifying International Labour Organization conventions protecting worker’s rights. Reports of Uygurs and other ethnic minorities being cajoled into forced labour have only amplified the issue of China’s labour standards in Brussels’ corridors of power.

Li Xing, a professor of international relations at Aalborg University in Denmark, said these disputes should not overshadow the fact that the EU would always try to “stand on two boats” – which, he added, was why the CAI was signed before US President Joe Biden took office.

Li, who recently published a book on EU-China relations, said there was no chance the European Parliament would be able to block the CAI in the long-run. According to Li, the EU was filled with “pragmatic idealists” who wanted to hold on to European values while delivering economically to prevent the rise of populism.

35