EU: Trade with China Trumps Freedom for Hong Kong
Europe’s continued appeasement of China indicates that the EU will be a weak link in efforts by Western democracies to confront the leadership in Beijing.
EU: Trade With China Trumps Freedom for Hong Kong
Soeren Kern | Gatestone Institute | June 2, 2020
The European Union has issued a predictably weak and equivocal declaration on China’s growing interference in Hong Kong. European leaders, apparently fearful of retaliation by Beijing, have signaled that economic interests will take priority over the EU’s much-trumpeted founding values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
Europe’s continued appeasement of China indicates that the EU will be a weak link in efforts by Western democracies to confront the leadership in Beijing.
On May 29, the foreign ministers of EU member states met by video conference to discuss a common European response to China’s plans to impose a sweeping law that would ban all activities in Hong Kong that are deemed to endanger China’s national security.
Pro-democracy activists and lawmakers say the law, aimed at crushing political dissent, would effectively end the autonomy the city enjoys from Beijing under the “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement.
