The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is concerned that the EU policy on China will be weakened at the summit of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European countries that will take place on 15-17 December in Belgrade, Serbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have long insisted that the EU hold a coherent policy towards China mainstreaming human rights and democracy,\u201d said the ICT EU Policy Director Vincent Metten. \u201cThis format of cooperation is deeply worrying as it may weaken the position of the EU vis \u00e0 vis China and is devised by Beijing as a tool to divide and rule \u2013 i.e. to do business without having to consider the human rights standards and democratic scrutiny of the EU.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHuman rights are notably absent from the agenda of the China-CEEC \u2013 or 16+1 \u2013 Summit, especially when bearing in mind the wide scope of the cooperation,\u201d<\/em> remarked Vincent Metten. \u201cWe would encourage the European partners to insist upon integrating human rights and fundamental freedoms in talks with China in the 16+1 framework as they are core values of the EU Member States and of other participating European countries. China\u2019s gross human rights violations in both Tibet and mainland China are incompatible with international human rights standards. The EU Member States should take a stand on issues such as freedom of expression, assembly and religion as well as discriminatory policies in Tibet.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Vincent Metten pointed out that the critical situation of Tibet in particular should be put on the agenda as a follow-up of the CEEC delegation visit to Tibet Autonomous Region in July 2014. There has been a deterioration of human rights, intensification of crackdowns and militarization of Tibetan areas since 2008. This has provoked a tragic wave of self-immolations in which more than 130 people have set themselves on fire since 2009, as highlighted in many of ICT\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n China-CEEC cooperation involves the EU Member States \u2013 Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia \u2013 the non-EU countries \u2013 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia \u2013 and the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n This cooperation format foresees annual summits; promoting investment, economic and trade cooperation; expanding financial cooperation; enhancing cooperation in connectivity; expanding cooperation in science, technology, innovation, environmental protection and energy; promoting dynamic people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation; and encouraging cooperation on sub-national level.<\/p>\n China and the Central and Eastern European Countries\u2019 Cooperation was started three years ago in Budapest, and then continued and deepened during the meetings in Warsaw in April 2012 and Bucharest in November 2013, making the summit in Belgrade the third of the kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) is concerned that the EU policy on China will be weakened at the summit of Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European countries that will take place on 15-17 December in Belgrade, Serbia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":11962,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorie":[664],"news_tag":[665],"class_list":["post-11961","nieuws","type-nieuws","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-newstibet-europe-news","news_tag-europe-and-tibet"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n