Stenograma dezbaterilor

Miercuri, 17 ianuarie 2024 - Strasbourg

21.1. Persecuția neîntreruptă a Falun Gong în China, în special cazul dlui Ding Yuande

  Puhemies. – Esityslistalla on seuraavana keskustelut ihmisoikeuksien sekä demokratian ja oikeusvaltion periaatteiden loukkauksia koskevista tapauksista työjärjestyksen 144 artiklan mukaisesti.

Ensimmäiseksi keskustelu aiheesta Falun Gongin harjoittajien jatkuva vainonta Kiinassa, erityisesti Ding Yuanden tapaus (2024/2504(RSP)).

  Michael Gahler, author. – Madam President, dear colleagues. As China is a one—party dictatorship, it is not a surprise that in order to stay in power, such structures need to repress multifold groups in their respective societies. When it comes to China, we have on many occasions discussed the fate of the Uyghurs, of Tibet and of the citizens of Hong Kong. Today we once again focus on the fate of those who practice Falun Gong.

It’s a practice that doesn’t harm anyone, that is not a danger to the state, but apparently the Party considers it – or has been considering it since 1999 – a threat to their ideology. The case we are focusing on is Mr Ding Yuande, who has been arrested and was in December sentenced to more than three years’ imprisonment. The only charge is that he practises Falun Gong. We are of the opinion that all those, not only Falun Gong practitioners, but the other groupings that I have named who are persecuted and repressed, need to be released unconditionally and allowed to practice their faith or to practice their culture, as it is also enshrined in the Chinese Constitution.

We demand that the Member States publicly condemn these practices and that we should apply the EU global human rights sanctions regime and also national human rights sanctions regimes against all the perpetrators, as well as entities that have contributed to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

We stress that EU measures should include visa refusal, freezing of assets, expulsion from EU territories and criminal prosecution, including on the basis of extraterritorial jurisdiction or the initiation of international criminal charges. That is what we owe to the citizens who are innocent and who need to be released.

  Isabel Santos, Autora. – Senhora Presidente, à máquina repressiva de Xi Jinping, na sua batalha pelo controlo férreo de tudo e de todos, nada lhe escapa e mesmo a prática religiosa não fica imune à sanha persecutória do regime chinês.

Para além de querer definir a legalidade das atividades religiosas, Pequim procura redesenhar as religiões, alinhando‑as com a ideologia do Partido Comunista Chinês e promovendo a lealdade ao líder supremo Xi. O caso de Ding Yuande é mais um entre tantos outros, abafados ao longo dos anos na China, de praticantes de Falun Gong – uma prática completamente inócua e que em nada prejudica qualquer tipo de interesse.

A União Europeia não pode ser cúmplice, pelo silêncio ou pela complacência, diante deste tipo de casos. Por isso, exigimos a libertação incondicional e imediata deste detido, bem como de todos os praticantes da Falun Gong e outras vítimas de detenções arbitrárias, e o respeito pelos direitos das minorias étnicas e religiosas na China.

Não podemos ser tolerantes com este tipo de práticas. Além disso, a União Europeia e os Estados-Membros devem apoiar uma investigação internacional aos casos de retirada de órgãos e também aos casos de tortura e tratamento desumano e degradante na China.

  Engin Eroglu, Verfasser. – Sehr geehrte Frau Präsidentin, sehr geehrter Herr Kommissar! Es vergeht kaum ein Monat, wo wir nicht über erhebliche Menschenrechtsverletzungen der chinesischen Autokratie hier in diesem Parlament sprechen müssen. Und es ist wirklich erstaunlich, dass sich viele Mitgliedstaaten wirklich verweigern, das, was wir im Europäischen Parlament immer wieder eindrucksvoll auf den Tisch legen, mal zu akzeptieren und auch mal in Wort und Schrift umzusetzen.

Deswegen der Appell an die Mitgliedstaaten, mal hier in das Europäische Parlament zu hören und mal zu schauen, was wir sagen. Seien es die Christen in Hongkong, seien es in Tibet die Buddhisten, seien es die Muslime als Uiguren oder jetzt die Anhänger von Falun Gong, die einfach – das muss man sich mal vorstellen – die einfach plötzlich inhaftiert werden, nur weil sie einer Religionsgemeinschaft angehören.

Und das alles, weil China ins struggeln gerät. China hat erhebliche Probleme im Inneren. Das Wohlstandsversprechen der Chinesen fängt an zu zerbröckeln. Ich habe die erhebliche Angst, dass, wenn nach innen fertig aufgeräumt ist, China wie jede andere Autokratie auch nach außen gehen wird und Drittstaaten bedrohen wird.

Deswegen müssen wir, lieber Herr Kommissar, wirklich alle Mitgliedstaaten auffordern, endlich wach zu werden und zu handeln.

  Markéta Gregorová, author. – Madam President, dear colleagues, China has a long history of suppression, persecution and torture of its many minorities. The Falun Gong are no exception and had to endure decades of treatment designed to eradicate them.

We must impose economic sanctions on the officials in charge of these crimes, freeze their assets and refuse visas. Our huge trade relationship must not become the reason to look away – away from forced organ harvesting, forced sterilisations and mass concentration camps in the 21st century.

The collective European Union has, for decades, done nothing to deter the CCP from these crimes. Instead, we send huge business delegations together with our heads of state and accept China’s wishes to treat these crimes as a domestic issue, not to be interfered with.

Colleagues, at a time when China supplies much of the needed war materials to Russia and blatantly commits crimes against humanity, let us not fund our own demise and sell our values.

  Anna Fotyga, author. – Madam President, the outstanding British human rights activist Benedict Rodgers stipulates in his new book, The China Nexus, methods used by the PRC to curb religious freedom and freedom of belief. It applies to Uyghur Muslims, to Tibetan Buddhists, to Christians, and to Falun Gong practitioners.

The case of Mr Ding Yuande that we take in the resolution is the proof of these methods. His son protests just in front of Parliament, and we have to remember about Falun Gong. I commend the notion of colleagues to use this opportunity and to speak out in their case.

  Miriam Lexmann, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, dear colleagues, I welcome Parliament's strong stance on the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. Just this year alone, reports mention a variety of tortures the practitioners were forced to endure: wearing a straitjacket, being shocked with an electric baton; sprinkled with chilli peppers, having their feet burned, being force-fed with mustard oil or deprived of food and sleep. Several women were sexually assaulted and we shouldn't forget about the sickening act of forced organ harvesting.

Dear colleagues, let me speak frankly. For more than seven decades, the CCP has terrorised people across mainland China and continues to commit gross crimes against humanity. Yet, as the EU, we have sanctioned four minor officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang. I am sorry, but this is a weak and insufficient response to the wide scale of crimes being committed by this regime every day.

It is time that the EU is more principled in its approach towards the CCP. It is the lack of principled policies that led us into this current security peril. A good start to addressing it is to hold the CCP and its henchmen accountable for crimes committed against humanity.

  Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI). – Signora Presidente, signor Commissario, onorevoli colleghi, sono ormai 25 anni che le autorità di Pechino hanno iniziato una vera e propria persecuzione contro i seguaci del Falun Gong, ma anche contro gli Uiguri, i Rohingya, i Kashmiri e i tibetani.

Delle vere e proprie cacce alle streghe contro minoranze ed etnie di stampo medievale, perpetrate però con l'ausilio di tecnologie futuristiche sempre più oppressive che sembrano uscite dal celebre romanzo 1984 di George Orwell. Una commissione terrificante, che ha portato alla sparizione di decine di migliaia di persone.

Di fronte a questi crimini non dovrebbe esserci altra possibilità se non una condanna ferma, chiara e inequivocabile. Tutti dovremmo chiedere un'indagine internazionale sul commercio criminale di organi e sanzioni durissime verso i funzionari e le autorità responsabili.

E invece, nella nostra Europa e anche in Italia, c'è chi si ostina a difendere la propria fallimentare scelta di aderire alla Via della Seta, ma anche a tenersi ben lontano da qualunque tipo di critica all'operato di Pechino.

Questo silenzio non mi sorprende. Il re però è nudo e, di fronte a queste atrocità, o si difendono i nostri valori e i diritti umani senza se e senza ma, oppure si sceglie la strada della complicità, perché il silenzio, appunto, è una complicità e questo Parlamento, lo chiedo anche questa sera, silente non dovrà esserlo mai! Sempre al fianco di chi si batte per la libertà e per il diritto di esistere.

  Nicolas Schmit, Member of the Commission. – Madam President, honourable Members, on behalf of Vice-President High Representative Borrell, this debate clearly reflects the European Parliament’s sustained and deep concerns about human rights violations in China. Just five weeks ago, this House issued a resolution on the forced assimilation of Tibetan children through an extensive network of boarding schools. Another one was approved in May 2022, focussed on forced organ harvesting practices in China.

The EU’s persistent and grave concerns when it comes to the human rights situation in China – the list is long: political re-education camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, tracking and control measures, systemic and severe restrictions on the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of religion or belief, and the use of forced labour, torture, forced abortion and sterilisation, birth control and family separation policies.

As we speak here today, human rights defenders, human rights lawyers, journalists, intellectuals, academics and persons belonging to ethnic and religious minorities continue to be exposed to harassment, intimidation and surveillance and subjected to exit bans, house arrest, torture and ill treatment, unlawful detention, sentencing and enforced disappearance, and sometimes to transnational repression. Human rights remain one of the most challenging issues in EU China relations.

The EU continues to seize every opportunity, including multilaterally and at the highest political level, to raise its persistent concerns about the very serious human rights situation in China. The 24th EU-China summit, held in Beijing on 7 December 2023, was no exception. In addition to raising the EU’s systemic human rights concerns, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Commission also raised several individual cases directly with President Xi Jinping.

Let me reaffirm what has been already stated during previous urgency debates in this Parliament. The EU will never compromise on human rights. We will not stop voicing our concerns in public whenever necessary, and we stand by civil society and human rights defenders. We will continue to urge China to abide by its obligations under national law, including its own constitution and international law, to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all.

On the broader relationship, the European Council conclusions on EU-China relations of June 2023 demonstrated unity among the EU and Member States regarding the validity of the EU’s multifaceted approach. China is certainly a partner, but China is also a competitor. But China is also, and particularly, a rival. We need to increase resilience and to pursue de-risking, while co-operating on common interests and global challenges.

  Puhemies. – Keskustelu on päättynyt.

Äänestys toimitetaan huomenna torstaina 18. tammikuuta 2024.