MEPs in the Foreign Affairs Committee give their input for a new EU strategy towards China, including how to continue cooperation, while dealing with emerging threats and challenges such as investments, disinformation, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), security, human rights, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong. Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), rapporteur, makes a statement on the new EU-China strategy following the vote on the report by the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) in the European Pariament in Brussels. She stressed that the CAI should be put in the fridge until China changes the sanctions and makes improvements on human rights. The report also calls for a clear investigation on what happened with the Uyghurs and for a change of policy towards Hong Kong.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Brussels

statement

EU - China (T)

VAUTMANS, Hilde (Renew, BE)

A new EU-China strategy: statement by Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), rapporteur - AFET Committee

SOUNDBITE (English), Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), We really think that the moment is there to impose, to ask for that new strategy, because you looked Corona changed the world order, you saw that China became, I wouldn't say more aggressive but more active on the foreign affairs policy all over the world. When you looked at the start of the Coronavirus with the information that came to, I was not so happy about that. We also saw that the last year, everything on human rights, it really didn't better in China, if you look at the Uyghurs, if you look at Hong Kong. So for us, the moment is really there to push for that new strategy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), We have, by the end of last year, the comprehensive agreement on investment. You know that the Commission agreed on that agreement by the end of last year. But in the meantime, China imposed a sanction on MEPs here of the Parliament who raised a critical voice towards China. So now the report really states very loud and clear; we will not discuss on that agreement on investment as long as China puts MEPs or European institutions under sanctions. We can't trade with people who put our own MEPs under sanctions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), We ask for a mandatory due diligence framework. That means that if Chinese companies want a common European market, they have to prove that the products that they are selling are not coming from forced labour, are not coming from child labour. For me as European, this is very important.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hilde VAUTMANS (Renew, BE), The agreement on investment, we put it in the fridge until you change the sanctions, until you make improvements on human rights. We ask in the report a really clear investigation on what happened with the Uyghurs, because we hear a lot about that. We push for a change of policy towards Hong Kong. But we all know, of course, it will be China that needs to change the policy, but we try to use economic power to arrive at that point.