Andrew StroehleinVerified account

If over 1 million Muslims were detained/disappeared by any other country, the world wouldn’t be talking about anything else. But as it's China, many countries are frightened into silence. Is the EU as well?

So, what are Tusk & Juncker going to say? Are they willing to publicly condemn this ruthless Chinese crackdown and insist on urgent, unhindered UN access to Xinjiang? Or will they roll over and cower in a corner?

And what about the intensified political crackdown in Tibet? And the persecution, enforced disappearance, and jailing of peaceful activists, human rights defenders, and defence lawyers across China? Will EU address these issues at the #EUChinaSummit next week?

The wider geopolitical aspects of what's going on are critical to understand, too. China is a growing threat to human rights worldwide through efforts to undermine international human rights law and weaken institutions such as the UN Human Rights Council.

China is trying to make the world in its own authoritarian image, and dictators and dictator wannabes everywhere are looking at the China model enviously. But while it may help keep abusive autocrats in power, for everyone else in society, it's a road to destroying freedom.

Speaking of roads... The rapid expansion of China’s "Belt and Road Initiative" - without sufficient rights safeguards - is also having an impact on human rights worldwide. Governments think they see easy money - they ignore the strings attached.

Not to mention how countries end up in massive debt & then are forced to hand over key assets. Ask Sri Lanka about this kind of Chinese debt trap: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html …

With so many countries apparently thinking China's initiative promises easy money, who's likely to speak out about China's horrific rights abuses? Even countries outside this particular initiative: who's willing to stand up for human rights these days?

There are too few countries willing to speak up for basic human dignity these days, particularly when it comes to China, so the EU has an even greater obligation to do so.

The EU may try to say they've already done this in the EU-China "human rights dialogue" (37th round held on 1-2 April). Sadly - despite some EEAS efforts - that forum is a bad joke. The format is simply wrong: by ghettoising human rights, the dialogue is a weak diplomatic tool.

We've seen how ineffective it is many times in the past. Chinese authorities consistently fail to show progress on the rights issues raised by the EU in these "dialogues". And for the 2nd straight year, Chinese officials canceled the session with independent civil society groups.

So, if many are too scared to raise concerns about China's massive human rights abuses - including what are essentially concentration camps - it is up to EU leaders. The world has failed China's victims. The EU's dialogues have also failed them. Tusk & Juncker must not.