At the end of the EU-China summit on Friday 2 June, European Council President Donald Tusk said that both parties had decided to improve their cooperation on human rights – be it at bilateral or multilateral level.
“We also discussed the issue of human rights today, and how we can improve cooperation on this at the bilateral and international level”, he told press. As proof of this commitment, Tusk announced that a new human rights dialogue meeting between the EU and China would be held before the end of the month. This will be the 35th annual dialogue, although the one in 2016 did not take place despite the commitment taken at the EU-China summit in July 2016 for a dialogue on human rights to be held before the end of that year. For the EU, human rights are at the heart of its relations with China.
Tusk was quick to underline Europe’s many concerns to press about "freedom of expression and association in China, including the detention of human rights lawyers and defenders, as well as the situation of minorities such as Tibetans and Uighurs". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)