Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China

Sen. James Paterson and Andrew Hastie MP were banned from China following their comments about the CCP's repressive actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

In their founding statement, the alliance has said that "countries that have tried to stand up to Beijing have mostly done so alone — and often at great cost."[4] Many of those who first signed the declaration have been affected by overseas censorship of Chinese issues in recent years. Co-chair Andrew Hastie and fellow member James Paterson were banned from visiting China after meeting with Uyghur dissidents and writing about the threat of China to Australian democracy.[9] Germany's co-chair Michael Brand experienced "massive pressure" to delete comments about Tibet[10] and later had a travel ban imposed on him."[10] Canadian parliamentarians joined the alliance after the CCP restricted imports on some Canadian goods and detained Canadians nationals Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig as a tit for tat for Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou on charges of fraud.[11] Sweden's co-chair Fredrik Malm spoke at a solidarity rally for Hong Kong in September 2019. Some weeks later China's Ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou addressed Swedish listeners and said, "We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we have shotguns."[12] This type of intimidating language is one of the features of China's new generation of "warrior wolf diplomats."[13] Despite this intimidation, many representatives from the world's democracies wish to maintain their "long-standing concerns over human rights and trade practices."[14]

Peter Kent, Andrew Scheer, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, with alliance members Garnett Genuis and David Sweet - who have longstanding concerns around the CCP's restrictions on religious freedom in Tibet.

Two very recent events forced the alliance to emerge: the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and Beijing's plan to criminalize dissent in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong."[14]

China's "lack of transparency over the Covid-19 pandemic"[15] meant that many democratic nations felt compelled to confront the CCP. When Australia moved to hold China accountable for its actions, or inactions, around the outbreak first detected in Wuhan, China quickly imposed new tariffs on Australian barley and outright bans on some of its beef,[4] then went on to warn Chinese citizens against traveling to the country."[16] Conservative Canadian MP and co-chair, Garnett Genuis said, "We don’t want to be in a situation where individual countries are targeted and isolated one at time."[11]

Baroness Kennedy of Shaws, one of the founding co-chairs of the alliance, has been a strong critic of China's crackdown on the Hong Kong democracy movement.

Beijing's plans to criminalise dissent, became the final impetus for the new alliance. Baroness Kennedy, condemned "unilateral introduction of national security legislation in Hong Kong"[17] and later would later reach across the aisle to form the permanent alliance with Iain Duncan Smith. Joining them came Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez, both longtime critics of the CCP and a key supporter of US legislation targeting China over its actions against Hong Kong's autonomy.[4]

In short, the emergence of the alliance indicates "there is growing backlash against China’s increasing assertiveness.”[18] Between the human rights abuses and the intimidation of democratic nations meant that democratic legislators, such as Reinhard Bütikofer felt they "cannot return to business as normal."[14] For many, this decision came with a sense of shame, that the free world had been "naive" in its approach to China, that, as Iain Duncan Smith put it, there had been an "unfounded" hope that free markets would lead Beijing to democratic reforms, but this hadn't happened.[14]

In the Aftermath of World War II global institutions were formed, chiefly the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund[19] so that international questions, from trading arrangements to the recognition of territorial borders, are settled according to agreed rules, rather than mere force. Members of the alliance, such as Rep. Mike Gallagher, are concerned that China is undermining the rules based order, with, for example, "illegitimate efforts to build and militarize islands in the region."[20]

Chinese military occupation of Tibet and its human rights abuses is one of the background concerns of the alliance.

Many members are driven by their concern for China's "egregious human rights violations"[21] — to use the phrase of British founding co-chair, David Alton — especially towards its own minority groups, particularly Uyghurs and Tibetan people. Canadian member Dan Albas has expressed concerns about the Chinese Government's "crackdowns on legitimate protests and concentration camps for Uighur Muslims." Similarly, Fabian Molina has moved in the Swiss legislature that "Stop crimes against humanity in Xinjiang or suspend free trade with China."[22] Founding member Baroness Kennedy has a particular concern for the poor treatment of lawyers and human rights defenders in China [23] Some members are hopeful that new instruments for holding China to account on its human rights abuses will emerge. Swedish member Ann-Sofie Alm has stated her hope for Magnitsky Act sanctions because "a crime against human rights, regardless of where it is committed, must be punishable.”[24] Lianchao Han (a fellow of the Hudson Institute) and Jianli Yang (a survivor of Tiananmen Square) described the formation of the alliance as "a significant step toward confronting China collectively on its human rights abuses and other important issues."[25]

Arne Weverling, who has spoken out on the unfair trade practices of the CCP, is a founding co-chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

The activity of selling goods in order to eliminate or damage a competitor is considered "dumping."[26] Currently many members of the alliance see China as engaging in dumping in their own home markets. Dutch member Arne Weverling has said, "We must protect our companies against unfair competition. It seems that we are now failing at that, because massive packages are sent from China at below cost. Our entrepreneurs can never compete against that."

For several founding co-chairs, such as Australia's Andrew Hastie, China's actions on the world stage, particularly in the South China Sea have revealed the regime to be "revisionist and expansionist"[27] revisionist China is a test of "our alliances and our security like no other time."[28] For co-chair Gen Nakatani (a former Minister of Defence in Japan) the activity of the People's Liberation Army in the region being "dangerous actions" that have a direct "impact on our national security."[29]

Gui Minhai, a bookseller and Swedish national, disappeared in October 2015, as one of the Causeway Bay Books disappearances. He is now understood to be in the custody of CCP security services. In 2019 Sweden's Culture Minister Amanda Lind awarded the Tucholsky Prize to Gui, though he was prevent from attending. As a result, the Minister has been made persona non grata in China.

Members of the alliance, including Germany's Margarete Bause, are aware of China's attempts to "encroach"[30] on their democratic systems. Several member nations, such as Australia and Sweden, have experienced China actively seeking to influence their institutions, such as Norway's awarding of its Nobel prize to Liu Xiaobo[31] Sweden's awarding Gui Minhai[9] or the Australian Labor Party receiving cash donations from patrons connected to the United Front Work Department and its affiliates.[32] Preserving national integrity means preventing CCP attempts at interference in the running of national institutions such as parliaments and the media. Hence their stated principle that, "“Democratic states must maintain the integrity of their political systems, and actively seek to preserve a marketplace of ideas free from distortion.”[33]