The EU Special Representative on Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, said on Tuesday 16 March that the EU needed to show a “deeper level of political engagement” on human rights issues with China.
Highlighting the many issues in this area with Beijing, not just Hong Kong or Xinjiang, Mr Gilmore told the European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights that there was “no effective way of engaging” with China on these issues, although the EU has a human rights dialogue with China.
Mr Gilmore, whose mandate was recently extended by 2 years (see EUROPE 12665/20), explained that one of his goals was to see how to develop better political engagement on human rights issues with China, but also Russia, members of the UN Security Council.
If Beijing does not listen, the EU will act. Ambassadors from EU member states agreed on Wednesday 17 March to sanction eleven individuals and four entities under its global regime on human rights violations, including four Chinese individuals and one entity in connection with the situation in Xinjiang. The sanctions are expected to be formally adopted at the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council on 22 March.
China’s ambassador to the EU, Zhang Ming, reacted immediately, calling the sanctions “confrontational” and calling on the EU to think twice. “We want dialogue, not confrontation. [...] If some insist on confrontation, we will not back down, as we have no options other than fulfilling our responsibilities to the people”, he warned.
More broadly, Mr Gilmore gave a worrying assessment of the state of human rights and democracy in the world. “For the first time since the 1990s, 54% of the world’s population in 92 countries live under an autocratic regime”, he said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)