Commentary on China’s claim to power – Sanctions against China are necessary

Parliaments in the Netherlands and Canada have shown the way: In the future, they will call Chinese human rights crimes in Xinjiang genocide. Of course, it is not the responsibility of parliaments to determine the legal facts that correspond to China’s dealings with the Uyghurs. This is the mission of the United Nations and the courts. However, the signal that MPs send with the resolution is remarkable.

Scholars, human rights activists, and journalists have documented the scope and purpose of China’s Xinjiang policy, most recently with assistance Nankai reports. The construction of concentration camps and prisons is documented by satellite images, and according to experts, it is the largest with more than a million people. Mass detention Since World War II. China is systematically demolishing mosques, cemeteries and other centuries-old cultural sites, suppressing the Uyghur language and forcing people to assimilate. Babies are separated from their parents, and there are indications of forced sterilization and childbirth prevention. These are measures, according to the United Nations Convention Against Genocide, which are punishable if they are implemented with the intention of the total or partial destruction of an ethnic group.

As for the reconciliation process, Beijing will have to take responsibility for its actions. This will not happen.

In principle, China will not change its minority policy. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government has taken action against groups it suspects are separatist forces. This also applies to other peripheral regions such as Inner Mongolia and Tibet. In the people’s congress, the electoral system in Hong Kong With the aim of further strengthening control over the Special Administrative Region. In order to resolve tensions between the Communist Party and minorities, but also between Hong Kong, Beijing will have to grant autonomy. This is hard to imagine under Party leader Xi Jinping. As for the reconciliation process, Beijing will have to take responsibility for its actions. This will not happen.

However, the international community is not powerless. Since the US imposed sanctions, companies have been willing to take a hard look at their supply chains. The European Union may target sanctions against major crime figures. Economic sanctions should also be discussed. Until now, China had little to fear from Europe. On the contrary, in December, the European Union, led by Germany, rewarded Beijing with an investment agreement.

The next disaster looms in February 2022. Then China wants it Beijing Winter Olympics Open. Around 2,700 kilometers from “the cruel treatment of minority rights,” as Chancellor Angela Merkel said in September, athletes are supposed to fight for gold medals. This cannot happen.

Publication date: March 5, 2021, 9:39 pm