EU representatives meet with Chinese leaders to discuss human rights

Officials from the European Union met with Chinese leaders in Chongqing, China, on Sunday for the 39th Human Rights Dialogue. The dialogue came after a three-day stop in Tibet, which included a prison visit. Chinese officials did not grant the EU’s request to speak with individual prisoners during this visit.

What did the parties discuss in the dialogue? European Union officials raised many human rights concerns in China, including the practice of forced labor and the violation of freedoms of expression, assembly, and religion, a European Union External Action Service press release said.

The release listed prisoners for whom the EU appealed to China for freedom. It named an EU citizen, human rights advocates, and members of the Uyghur minority group. The release also named religious prisoners, including Wang Yi, who pastored a Presbyterian church in China. Wang was arrested in 2018 and is serving a nine-year sentence in Jintang prison, charged with inciting subversion of state power and illegal business activity.

What issues did China raise? Chinese officials brought up human rights considerations in the EU, specifically the conditions of migrants and refugees living there. China also raised allegations of racism in the member countries. 

China and the EU agreed on the necessity of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to the release.

How are the dialogues perceived? On Wednesday, five civil society organizations, or CSOs, wrote a letter to Josep Borrell, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, urging him to suspend the human rights dialogue with China. The authors characterized the dialogue as ineffective, citing 38 previous rounds that failed to improve China’s human rights situation. They argued that the EU knows that the Chinese government will not acknowledge any human rights abuses, take responsibility for them, or make any legislative or policy changes to rectify them. The CSOs, joined by five additional signatories, sent a similarly-aimed letter to Borrell in 2023. They stood by this previous letter and again extended the invitation for discussion to Borrell.

Dig deeper: Read Mark Tooley’s column in WORLD Opinions about how South Korea and Japan can overcome their historical animosity to deter China, their common foe.