Some British lawmakers say the world’s leading democracies should form a coalition to stop China’s human rights abuses at home and its support for authoritarianism overseas.
The arrest of more than 50 democracy activists in Hong Kong earlier this month was the latest in Beijing’s crackdown on political freedom. So how are Western democracies responding to China’s increasingly robust challenge?
British Conservative lawmakers have set up a “China Study Group” to answer this question. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, is a co-founder of the group.
Tom Tugendhat, co-founder of the Conservative China Study Group, said, “We want to do everything we can to encourage China to make changes in the rules-based international system so that the Chinese people get the opportunities they deserve and the rest of the world is not threatened. “
The battle has global significance, said Steve Tsang, head of the China Studies Centre at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Xi Jinping is interested in China exporting authoritarianism and supporting authoritarian regimes around the world,” said Professor Rayson Tsang, director of the SOAS Institute of China Studies at the University of London. It’s rather a bit of a battle between two different ideologies: liberal democracies versus China-backed authoritarianism.”
Among the policy proposals put forward by this China Study Group is the formation of a coalition of ten leading democracies to collectively resist Chinese influence and impose sanctions on Chinese individuals involved in human rights abuses.
Tom Tugendhat, co-founder of the Conservative Party’s China Study Group, said, “We know (China) is using group contraception, detention and slavery against Uighur Muslims; we know (China) is persecuting the Mongols in Inner Mongolia; we know (China) is persecuting the Tibetans; we now know very clearly that (China) is suppressing democratic rights in Hong Kong. All of these should be sanctioned.”
The policy toolkit also suggests imposing greater legal obligations on foreign banks and financial institutions to prevent the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. But Tseng Rui-sheng argues that the West has limited leverage.
Professor Tsang said, “We have studied some of the major Western banks and financial institutions. They would be hurt much more in the process than the Chinese party state would be hurt.”
China is the largest trading partner of the United States and Europe, respectively.
Tom Tugendhat said, “In reality, what we’re seeing is not arm’s length trade, it could be intellectual property theft, it could be asset stripping.”
But Zeng Ruisheng believes that any “policy toolkit” will have a limited impact. The world’s democracies must win the ideological battle.
If we can’t win this argument through the reality of democracies,” Professor Zeng says, “then we can’t win the competition with China’s pro-authoritarian approach.”
To counteract support for authoritarianism, the China Study Group wants Britain and its allies to go farther in exerting influence on Beijing.
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