#BoycottBeijing2022: European civil society calls for an EU diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Brussels, Berlin and Geneva were rocked by protests calling for a diplomatic boycott of the Chinese Winter Games.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, January 5, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- #BoycottBeijing2022: European civil society calls for an EU diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
With just one month until the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, civil society groups across Europe took to the streets calling for the EU to enact a diplomatic boycott. Simultaneously, at the Press Club, Brussels, a high level debate on the matter, chaired by Gary Cartwright, publisher of EU Today, echoed the call.
Member of the European Parliament Peter van Dalen1, a strong critic of the Chinese regime, opened the debate with a strongly worded attack: “I consider China to be a rogue state because its regime systematically commits crimes against humanity. The governments of the EU Member States plus the representatives from the EU institutions must therefore stay at home in February. For me these games provide an opportunity to publicly denounce Chinese suppression. The best way to show our contempt of Xi’s policies is to stay away from those games.” Participants in the debate connected live with demonstrators in Antwerp, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva and Hong Kong, all of whom were supporting the call for diplomatic boycott. Parallels were drawn with Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics, and Vladimir Putin’s 2014 Sochi Winter games, followed within days by Russia’s invasion and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. The EU should not hand the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this “propaganda victory,” said Peter van Dalen.The debate came as Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung was jailed for 15 months for inciting an unauthorised assembly to commemorate those who died in China's 1989 crackdown on protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Chinese troops
Benedict Rogers3, Chairman and Co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, stated that “the current regime in Beijing is pursuing the most widespread and the most severe crackdown on human rights across the board since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, and in some respects, arguably, since the Cultural Revolution.” Willy Fautré2 Director and Co-Founder of Human Rights Without Frontiers said “Xi Jinping has been dismantling the autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong over the last two years to progressively anchor this special administrative region to mainland China and to submit it to the rule of the CCP.”
Kashmiri politician Sajid Hussain, of the United Kashmiri Peoples’ National Party introduced into the debate China’s activities in his country’. “My country is occupied by Chinese forces. China’s true intentions have now become clear. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was intent on establishing a foothold in Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) in order to control the region militarily and diplomatically. Nearly 11,000 Chinese troops were deployed to POJK, suggesting that Pakistan had given de facto control of the territory to China.”
Forced labour
Reiterating the call for a diplomatic boycott, Brussels-based human rights activist Manel Msalmi pointed out that “Belgium is not sending any Government officials to Beijing 2022 aligning it with Britain, Lithuania, the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. “It is clear that China violates human rights & individual freedoms, including freedom of speech & religious freedoms, and freedom of belief or thought by persecuting ethnic and religious minorities such as the Uyghurs and the Tibetans… Even children face such violations.” Vietnamese anti-Communist dissident Hoang Hai Nguyen, warned of the dangers of complacency in addressing China: “People in many countries, including Vietnam, embrace the model of China, not the democratic model. Even though the CCP has been committing crimes of genocide crime against the Muslim Uyghur people, the Islamic world is still silent due to the wealth of China.” Stefan Singer, of Climate Action Network International, gave an example of China’s use of forced Uyghur labour. He pointed out that 50% of global polysilicon used in the manufacture of solar panels is produced in China’s Xinjiang region: “the likelihood is that as much as 50% of that is being produced through forced labour.” He explained that China needs forced labour in order to maintain its share of the solar panel market against a background of falling prices, and increased labour costs.
Climate disaster
Speaking outside the Brussels offices of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Andy Vermaut, spokesperson for the international alliance for the defence of rights and freedoms (AIDL) who is consulted by the United Nations (Ecosoc) said “We can never win the battle against climate change without doing everything we can to drastically reduce China's emissions. Even after the Paris climate agreement and after Glasgow, we still see China's carbon emissions increasing… In other words, China is partly responsible for the climate disaster in which we now find ourselves.” Koen Stoop, EU Policy Coordinator for the World Uyghur Congress, expressed the gratitude of his organisation to the many people across Europe who had taken to the streets to call for the boycott. He described the deterioration of the human rights situation in China as “unprecedented.” “China is really not the place to hold these Winter Olympics,” he said.
For further information contact:
Andy Vermaut +32 499 357495
Gary Cartwright +32 487 368244
Andy Vermaut
EUreview.net - PostVersa vzw
+32 499 35 74 95
denktankcarmenta@gmail.com
WATCH NOW: Gary Cartwright who moderated the debate is quietly being credited as the mastermind behind the #BoycottBejiing actions. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBgG90Wif0w
1 https://www.petervandalen.eu/
2 https://hrwf.eu/about/staff/
3 https://www.hongkongwatch.org/