PICTURED: APA / AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI
In protest against China's human rights violations, the EU Parliament has called on the member states and their political and diplomatic representatives to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. On Thursday, the majority of MPs voted in favor of a text according to which government representatives and diplomats should decline invitations “as long as the Chinese government does not show any noticeable improvement in the human rights situation”.
578 parliamentarians voted in favor of the non-binding resolution, 29 voted against and 73 abstained. MEPs called on the European Commission and member states to make the controversial Hong Kong security law “a top priority on the agenda of all EU-China meetings”.
In Hong Kong there were months of mass protests against Beijing's growing influence in 2019. In response, the Chinese leadership passed the so-called Security Law a year ago, which allows the Hong Kong authorities to crack down on any activity they believe threatens China's national security.
The European Parliament also condemned the forced closure of the Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily and the human rights situation in Tibet. Parliament in Xinjiang also called for an improvement in the human rights situation. In the north-western region there are said to be mass arrests and mistreatment of predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities such as the Uyghurs.
The Hong Kong office of the highest representative of China criticized the vote as “demagoguery” and “an obstacle to mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the EU”.
