Protecting the EP from Foreign Influence

Photo by Yellow Cactus on Unsplash

European Parliament’s special committee on foreign interference and disinformation (INGE) MEPs have voted on their position on the reforms to strengthen the integrity, transparency and accountability of the European Parliament.  The report – approved by a large majority – gives the Parliament and its members clear guidelines on transparency and on how to protect the European…

Bütikofer Demands Strong Stance Against China

Photo by Aaron Lau on Unsplash

Photo by Aaron Lau on Unsplash The EU has been told it “must not shrink from taking a clear united and strong stance” against China. The demand was made by senior German MEP Reinhard Bütikofer, Foreign Policy Coordinator of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament. He was commenting on the EU’s China policy which is on the…

China’s new Head of Mission to EU calls for “Enhanced Capacity” to Prevent Further Global Health Out Break

Photo by May Gauthier on Unsplash

Photo by May Gauthier on Unsplash China’s new ambassador to the EU has warned that more “international cooperation” will be needed to combat another health pandemic. Fu Cong is the new head of Mission of the Chinese Mission to the EU and was speaking at a briefing organised by the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce (BCECC) in Brussels on Thursday. In…

Has Putin Lost China as an Ally?

XI Jinping and Vladimir Putin

On 27 October, President Xi Jinping said that China should develop dialogue with the West on equal terms. By the word “West”, the Chinese Secretary General meant the United States, and in fact confirmed Beijing’s focus on the formation of a bipolar world in which China will become a superpower. Earlier, on 25 October, President…

China: While economy slides, Premier LI Keqiang’s political star shines

LI Keqiang

Last week, in an unusual move, Chinese Prime Minister LI Keqiang who has been recently in the news for his reported opposition to strict anti-Covid lockdown, held video talks with thousands of officials holding different ranks in the government. This was an emergency meeting and the Chinese Prime Minister talked about the health of the country’s economy, writes Jianli Yang….

China Forcing Organ Removal From Prisoners

Illegal Organ Removal

Reported systematic forced organ harvesting in China is a serious human rights violation that requires a full, independent and transparent investigation, underlined the S&Ds in regard to last week’s adoption of the European Parliament resolution on this matter. Maria Arena, the S&D negotiator on the resolution on the reports of continued organ harvesting in China, said:…

Threats to the EU from Autocratic Regimes

Dictatorships

MEPs finalised 18 months of inquiry by the INGE committee and adopted its final recommendations. The European public and government officials are “overwhelmingly” unaware of the severity of the threat posed by foreign autocratic regimes, in particular Russia and China, MEPs say in the text. Insufficient defence made it easier for malicious actors to take over…

MEPs call for boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

Boycott Beijing 2022

On Thursday, Parliament adopted a resolution on violations of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. Parliament condemned in the strongest terms the deterioration of human rights in Hong Kong, including severe restrictions on freedom of expression, freedom of association and press freedom. MEPs called on the Hong Kong government to release all political prisoners and drop…