In the beginning of January 2021, mass arrests of the opposition figures took place in Hong Kong. The accusations were based on the new National Security Law, specifically for organizing or participating in an informal primary election in July 2020. Apart from the efforts to destroy a free society in Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China systematically violates human rights in Xinjiang, constantly intimidates Taiwan and persecutes critics of the Communist Party.
Nevertheless, the European Union has concluded a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) with China without setting any obligations in the area of human rights and forced labor. The Coalition therefore calls on the European Parliament not to ratify the Agreement without including such commitments.
“By ratifying this Agreement with an authoritarian country in its current form, the EU would undermine not only its own values, but it would also contradict its stated interest in renewing close cooperation with the United States,“ states the appeal signed by more than 90 world-renowned thinkers from the international intellectual community including Garry Kasparov, Francis Fukuyama and Ana Gomes.
Furthermore, the Coalition considers it necessary to develop a coordinated transatlantic stance on PRC focusing on human rights, respect for the rule-based international order, free market principles, and security, which would serve as a base for a broader multilateral coalition of liberal democracies around the world.
The International Coalition for Democratic Renewal (ICDR), a Forum 2000 Foundation project, is a global initiative of a group of intellectuals, activists and politicians concerned with the expansion of power and influence of authoritarian regimes and the simultaneous weakening of democratic systems from within. The ICDR aims to reaffirm the fundamental principles of democracy, to take the offensive against the authoritarian opponents of democracy, and to demonstrate solidarity with the brave people who are fighting for freedom in undemocratic systems around the world.
