Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 12 September 2018 - Strasbourg

7.7. State of EU-China relations (A8-0252/2018 - Bas Belder)

Dichiarazioni di voto orali

  Tibor Szanyi (S&D). – Elnök úr! Megszavaztam ezt a jelentést, mert úgy értékelem, hogy átfogó és összességében reális képet nyújt az Európai Unió–Kína-kapcsolatok helyzetéről, és bár számomra néhány helyen kissé óvatos formában, de tartalmazza az európai demokráciák szemszögéből legfontosabb bírálatokat is a kínai vezetéssel szemben. Nem vitatom, hogy a Kínai Népköztársaság az Európai Unió egyik legfontosabb stratégiai partnere, a világgazdaság kulcsszereplője, második legnagyobb kereskedelmi partnerünk, ezért a párbeszéd fontosságának és az együttműködésre való törekvésnek nincs alternatívája. Ugyanakkor fontosnak tartom, hogy az Európai Unió a mostani jelentés szellemében, de még határozottabban és kritikusabban lépjen föl - ha kell tiltakozás formájában is - a kínai kormányzat gyakorlatával szemben, amit a saját lakosságával szemben folytat, vagy a tibeti kérdés kapcsán elkövetett emberi jogi sértésekről is beszélhetünk.

  Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE). – Mr President, the recent EU-China summit has witnessed the fact that both parties are stepping up their cooperation in many fields, including security, defence, anti-terrorism and climate change.

Certainly, China is seeking greater influence in Europe due to its growing investments in strategic infrastructure. However, we must be rather cautious and think how to counter-balance this influence in order to preserve our democracy and not to be indebted to Chinese banks.

I wish to highlight that the European Union also should continue to speak up for press freedom, human rights and other fundamental liberties in this country. I agree with this report’s conclusions and the relationship with China, if pursued with cautious diplomacy, can be a great opportunity not only for the European Union and China, but for global stability too, although it is crucial that we remain very loyal to our values, and to democracy and human rights.

  Andrejs Mamikins (S&D). – Mr President, I voted in favour of the resolution on EU—China relations. It states that EU—China cooperation should be more people oriented. I fully agree with this but, in order to benefit the people, our cooperation should be dominated by human rights issues and social standards. Instead, our cooperation is dominated by commercial interests.

China is probably bigger and stronger than ever before, but please remember that it was this big and strong China that put the Nobel Prize laureate for peace, Liu Xiobo, in Laogai, a detention camp supposed to re-educate and reform through labour. The fact is that it is a prison where people are forced to work. Liu Xiobo found the courage to write a manifesto for democracy in China and at that moment, penal labour became his destiny. Do you know what, colleagues? The penitentiary labour camp was expressly proud to have among its prisoners a Nobel Prize winner – and who knows how many products from such camps we use every day.

  Monica Macovei (ECR). – Domnule președinte, China își concentrează o parte dintre investiții în cele mai sărace economii din Europa Centrală și de Est și în Balcani. De ce? Pentru că acolo există politicieni și oligarhi corupți.

Șaisprezece țări, între care unsprezece state membre ale Uniunii, sunt calul troian prin care China încearcă să controleze Europa. 50 de miliarde de euro sunt puși la bătaie de China în aceste țări pentru finanțare în infrastructură, hi-tech și bunuri de consum.

Dar China, știm, nu vine numai cu bani, vine și cu corupție, vine cu practici dictatoriale, vine cu încălcarea drepturilor omului, vine cu interdicția, de exemplu, a internetului, mai ales în țări în care puterea este coruptă și, tocmai, dictatorială. Acolo își poate face loc. Tocmai de aceea este nevoie de un control strict și eficient la nivelul întregii Uniuni, pentru că, altfel, riscăm să ne distrugă China și competiția corectă de pe piață, și democrația.

  Jude Kirton-Darling (S&D). – Mr President, it is unclear whether we are on the last page of a chapter of world history or the first page of the next chapter. The rise of China has, and is, shifting the economic and political tectonic plates. Trump’s response to Chinese overcapacity in steel and aluminium amounts to collective punishment, but our opposition to Trump’s tariffs must not mean that we let China off the hook.

China’s economic strategy poses long-term challenges for jobs and incomes in Europe and it is time that we fully recognised it. Investment flows and trade flows between China and Europe are seriously unbalanced. China has a plan and it is not benevolent. We need a plan of our own to uphold social standards, to re-regulate globalisation and invigorate our economy. The time of laissez-faire economics must end if we want this to be the first page of fairer EU-China relations in the future.

  Csaba Sógor (PPE). – Mr President, the EU is a community of values which, inter alia, places human rights at the centre of its relations with all third countries and strategic partners. Still, it has little results to show for years of human rights dialogue with China. In China today, peaceful dissent is banned, freedom of religion and free speech are curtailed, and human rights defenders are being detained, prosecuted and imprisoned. Tibetan identity and culture is relentlessly under attack and Tibetans themselves are subject to arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, torture and ill treatment.

Xinjiang region is a frightening and dystopian experiment in which China’s decades-old repressive methods are reinforced by cutting-edge technology to create a true police state. Today, nearly every family in the Uighur diaspora has a relative or loved one who has been sent to re-education camps created to erode their religious, cultural and ethnic identities.

What does Europe do when hundreds of persecuted Tibetans self-immolate themselves to show their people’s desperation to the world? It celebrates the EU-China Tourism Year.

  Thomas Mann (PPE). – Herr Präsident! Als Vorsitzender der Interfraktionellen Arbeitsgruppe „Tibet“ im Europäischen Parlament bin ich dem Kollegen Belder sehr dankbar für einen ausgewogenen China-Bericht, speziell die Kapitel über das Recht der Tibeter auf freie Meinungsäußerung und Religionsfreiheit. Es ist doch erkennbar, dass chinesische Behörden Überwachungsmaßnahmen und Kontrollen über Einzelpersonen und gesellschaftliche Gruppen enorm verschärft haben. Unter dem Vorwand, Sicherheit und Stabilität zu schaffen, wird massiv vorgegangen gegen tibetische Kultur und Identität. Willkürliche Verhaftungen und Misshandlungen haben zu- statt abgenommen. Wir dürfen nicht wegschauen, wenn Rechtsanwälte und politisch engagierte Bürger weggesperrt werden. Der Zugang zur Autonomen Region Tibet für Ausländer, Journalisten und Diplomaten muss erleichtert werden. Wir Europäer fordern die Einhaltung der Menschenrechte und der Rechtsstaatlichkeit auch gegenüber einem wirtschaftlich so starken Handelspartner wie China.