Deputy Catalin Tenita, co-chair of the Romanian branch of the Inter-parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), said at a meeting of this group in Washington that the democratic world needs joint action „to limit China’s human rights’ abuses”, according to Agerpres.

„After the invasion of Ukraine, we all understood that we could not live insular. And for several years now, it has become clear that at this moment China is not only the world’s largest exporter in the economic sense, but is also beginning to export authoritarian, even totalitarian attitudes. China’s promises in the international arena lose their credibility. The Hong Kong case is enlightening. It was promised ‘one country, two systems’, but in practice all the democratic forces were crushed, once with the exile of all dissident voices. We must understand that at this moment we need more than ever a common system of protection of human rights and democratic values, of founding principles,” Tenita said at the meeting held in the US this week, according to a release sent on Thursday to Agerpres.

He added that Beijing gov’t must align itself with internationally stated values regarding the rule of law and respect for human rights, within and outside its borders, to respect Taiwan’s system of government, but also the democratic aspirations of Hong Kong residents, and to allow international investigation of allegations of abuses in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

According to the MP, democratic states are determined to react against any actions that represent violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, by excluding from the supply chains products manufactured through forced labour, sanctioning the perpetrators of abuses and acts of corruption by freezing their assets and travel bans (Magnitsky legislation), suspending extradition agreements and urgently reviewing judicial and police cooperation agreements.

„At the same time, IPAC lawmakers are determined to support the strengthening of economic exchanges between Taiwan and other democratic states and to work towards Taiwan’s participation in the activities of international organizations such as WHO, ICAO, INTERPOL or UNFCCC,” Catalin Tenita added.

According to him, a joint declaration was adopted at the IPAC summit affirming support for Taiwan’s democratic path, for the democratic aspirations of Hong Kong residents, for respect for human rights within the borders of the People’s Republic of China and the investigation of allegations of abuses in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. At the same time, it affirms the support for Ukraine and the decision to sanction the Chinese companies that provide Russia with military, logistics or other support in this illegal war.

Agerpres