On the occasion of the frequent visits of Chinese diplomats to Europe, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radio and Television launched a discussion on Europe’s foreign policy towards China, with the participation of former French Ambassador to China Jean-Maurice Ripert, former Ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud and Mr. Antoine Bondaz, China expert at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique, in which former Ambassador to China Jean-Maurice Ripert rebutted the need for efficiency in human rights issues.
Jean-Maurice Ripert, former Ambassador to China: “I must point out three things:
First, I have heard enough denunciations of US hegemony in France at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to wonder why we always denounce it but do not respond to the pressure from Russia and China. This has nothing to do with de Gaulleism, which is not a tradition of French diplomacy.
Secondly, on the issue of human rights, of course, it is important to be efficient, but, up to a certain point, we have to be principled and not just accepting. When millions of Hong Kong people take to the streets to oppose government decrees, when more than 70% of Hong Kong people vote against Xi Jinping’s China, it’s not about efficiency at all, it’s about the need to support those who seek democracy as much as we do, and what is our understanding of democracy if we don’t think it’s necessary to support them? Can we have it and no one else can have it? I’m sorry that I have to talk about Xinjiang here, and I have to talk about something very horrible. Forced birth control in Xinjiang, forced separation of children from their parents in Xinjiang, doesn’t that remind you of something? Remember when Argentine generals arbitrarily abandoned or gave away the children of the opposition? The status quo in Xinjiang has nothing to do with inefficiency, and we must stand up and say that we will not tolerate this any longer, and that the crime of genocide is clearly defined in international peace treaties.
Third, of course the situation is different than in wartime, but, in fact, Gerard Araud himself speaks of cyber warfare, and the war between China and India in the Himalayas is going on every day, and people are dying every day, and what is going to happen in the South China Sea? If one day China follows Putin’s example with Crimea and includes the South China Sea within its borders, we will have to enter into a conflict.
Europe is France and Germany, but it is also many other countries, and we cannot afford to fragment ourselves internally. The EU itself must be positive and win back those EU countries that are close to China and are cooperating with China in its questionable Belt and Road project.
Recent Comments