Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-06-Speech-3-324"
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"en.20060906.23.3-324"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, I welcome this report on behalf of my group. It is important for the European Parliament to come up with a statement prior to the important summit at the weekend. The EU’s relations with China have, of course, become ever more extensive, and not only in terms of trade policy. It is therefore good that we should tackle these relations in a more strategic way.
China is a growing economy and an ever more important trading partner. We liberal democrats see trade as an important way in which countries can become closer to each other and have more contacts and forms of exchange. Trade also leads in the long term to increased openness, better regulations, less corruption and in time, we believe, to democracy. Trade has also led to economic growth, enabling millions of Chinese to raise themselves out of poverty and meaning that we can, of course, also discuss how the fruits of that growth are to be distributed.
China has growing ambitions on the international stage. That is good, but in that case it must also accept increased international responsibility and be a responsible partner. We believe that China can play an important role in relations with North Korea, but we cannot accept China making use of its UN veto to prevent global intervention designed to put an end to the genocide in Darfur or aimed at putting pressure on Iran to open up its nuclear power programme to international scrutiny.
Given its size, history and population, China has huge potential. At the same time, we have to recognise that China is also a dictatorship. We cannot accept thousands of people being put in prison for having different political views or for being of a different religion or from a different ethnic group. We cannot accept China’s censorship of the Internet, and we view with great concern the reports now coming from right around the world – and most recently from a respected institute in Canada – on trade in organs from, for example, Falun Gong sympathisers. We are also concerned about the threats directed against the Taiwanese democracy.
We must never miss an opportunity to point out to Chinese politicians and companies that we condemn these breaches of human rights. At the same time, we must also be constructive in trying to help China travel the long road towards democracy. In the same way, all of us as politicians, entrepreneurs and consumers must demand that Chinese companies permit trade unions and allow their employees to enjoy security and fundamental rights.
China is also an environmental time bomb, the environment being a huge potential area for cooperation between China and ourselves in the EU. Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner talked of the need for a strategic partnership involving many practical elements. We welcome this and hope that the European Parliament can play a critical but also constructive role in this work."@en1
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