Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China


The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries focused on relations with the People's Republic of China, and specifically, the Chinese Communist Party. It was established on June 4, 2020, on the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The alliance has over 100 parliamentary and congressional members from 17 of the world's democratic legislatures. Each legislature represented takes turns to chair the alliance on a rotating basis.

History

Parliamentarians speaking—and being isolated

In its founding statement, the alliance stated that "countries that have tried to stand up to Beijing have mostly done so alone — and often at great cost." 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. Germany's co-chair Michael Brand experienced "massive pressure" to delete comments about Tibet and later had a travel ban imposed on him." 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. 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." This type of intimidating language is one of the features of China's new generation of "warrior wolf diplomats." Despite this intimidation, many representatives from the world's democracies wish to maintain their "long-standing concerns over human rights and trade practices.", 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.

COVID-19 and Hong Kong

Two contemporaneous events triggered the formation of the alliance: the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and Beijing's plan to criminalize dissent in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong."
China's "lack of transparency over the Covid-19 pandemic" 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, then went on to warn Chinese citizens against traveling to the country." 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."
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" 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.
In short, the emergence of the alliance indicates "there is growing backlash against China’s increasing assertiveness.” 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." 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.

Purpose

The alliance appears to have a defensive posture, seeing China's relationship to the world, at least under Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, as being a threat to many democratic values. Overall, the group aims "to help counter what they say is the threat China’s growing influence poses to global trade, security and human rights." The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China has a five-fold mission:
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1. Safeguarding international rules-based order

In the aftermath of World War II global institutions were formed, chiefly the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund 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 Mike Gallagher of the United States, are concerned that China is undermining the rules based order, with, for example, "illegitimate efforts to build and militarize islands in the region."
, Australian MP Andrew Hastie and Senator James Paterson had a study trip to China cancelled, their visas blocked.

2. Upholding of human rights

Many members are driven by their concern for China's "egregious human rights violations" — to use the phrase of British member, 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." Founding co-chair Baroness Kennedy has a particular concern for the poor treatment of lawyers and human rights defenders in China. 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.” Lianchao Han and Jianli Yang described the formation of the alliance as "a significant step toward confronting China collectively on its human rights abuses and other important issues."

3. Promoting trade fairness

The activity of selling goods in order to eliminate or damage a competitor is considered "dumping." Currently many members of the alliance see China as engaging in dumping in their own home markets.

4. Strengthening security

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" revisionist China is a test of "our alliances and our security like no other time." For co-chair Gen Nakatani the activity of the People's Liberation Army in the region being "dangerous actions" that have a direct "impact on our national security."

5. Protecting national integrity

Members of the alliance, including Germany's Margarete Bause, are aware of China's attempts to "encroach" 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 Sweden's awarding Gui Minhai or the Australian Labor Party receiving cash donations from patrons connected to the United Front Work Department and its affiliates. 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."

Campaigns

1. Treatment of predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang

Members of the Alliance have been leading calls for political action in response to allegations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region. The campaign was launched after an Associated Press report by Professor Adrian Zenz suggesting a Chinese Government birth prevention programme in Xinjiang.
IPAC co-chairs signed a joint statement in response to the revelations calling for a United Nations led investigation into the alleged atrocities. The statement was followed up by interventions from members of the Alliance in the European Parliament, the Italian Senate, the British House of Commons and the United States Congress.

2. Hong Kong (National Security Law)

The passing of the National Security Law in Hong Kong was met with severe condemnation and calls to action from members of the Alliance. A joint statement from the co-chairs of the Alliance called for an international “lifeboat” scheme for Hong Kong citizens at risk of political persecution, and for countries to “review and recalibrate” relations with China in order to reduce “strategic dependency”.
In a coordinated bi-partisan response IPAC members Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Bob Menendez, Representative Mike Gallagher and Representative Joaquin Castro introduced the Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act in both chambers of the US Congress.
IPAC members also made public statements on the issue in Australia, the European Union, Italy, Japan, Lithuania and the United Kingdom.

3. No Extradition to Hong Kong

The Alliance is coordinating efforts to call for no extradition to Hong Kong, where it claims the rule of law is severely compromised following the passing of the National Security Law.
The campaign saw quick success as Australia and Canada suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong. New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States have announced a review of extradition arrangements in response to the campaign.

Membership

The alliance exists to promote and protect democracy globally, its members has been described as "one of the most geographically and politically diverse coalitions ever." The founding 18 members of the alliance came from the legislatures of eight nations, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States as well as the European Parliament. In a statement, the founding co-chairs said:
China under the rule of the Chinese Communist party represents a global challenge... When countries have stood up for the values and human rights, they have done so alone, sometimes, at great cost. No country should have to shoulder this burden alone.... The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China has been created to promote a coordinated response between democratic states to challenges posed by the present conduct and future ambitions of the People’s Republic of China. By developing a common set of principles and frameworks that transcend domestic party divisions and international borders, our democracies will be able to keep the rules-based and human rights systems true to their founding purposes.
The formation of the alliance was dismissed by the government of the People's Republic of China with its representative in London, Chen Wen, saying, “It's a misinterpretation of China’s foreign policy and a misreading of the current world situation. China is a force for positive change.”
Within a week of its launch, the number of members had increased from 18 to over 100 lawmakers. With members of the New Zealand Swiss and Ugandan legislatures joining in June and July 2020, the total number of democratic nations in the alliance has increased from 8 to 18, including all five of the Five Eyes security alliance. Each nation is represented in the Alliance by two co-chairs, senior politicians who lead the Alliance's work in that nation.
The work of the Alliance membership is supported in an operational capacity by a team comprising the Central Secretariat. This is led by Luke de Pulford, director of the and co-founder of the . A number of individuals act as advisors to the Alliance, including Anne-Marie Brady, Wei Jingsheng and Robert Suettinger.
PersonLegislaturePartyDate joinedSource
Andrew Hastie, House of RepresentativesLiberal Party of Australia4 June 2020'
Kimberley Kitching, Australian SenateAustralian Labor Party4 June 2020'
Garnett Genuis, House of Commons of CanadaConservative Party of Canada4 June 2020'
John McKay, Canadian ParliamentLiberal Party of Canada4 June 2020'
Pavel Fischer, Czech Republic SenateIndependent9 June 2020
Jan LipavskyChamber of Deputies of the Czech RepublicCzech Pirate Party9 June 2020
Reinhard Bütikofer, European ParliamentAlliance 90/The Greens4 June 2020'
Miriam Lexmann, European ParliamentKDU-ČSL4 June 2020
Isabelle Florennes, National AssemblyDemocratic Movement18 June 2020
André Gattolin, Senate La République En Marche!11 June 2020
Margarete Bause, German BundestagAlliance 90/The Greens4 June 2020'
Michael Brand, German BundestagCDU/CSU4 June 2020'
Lucio Malan, Italian Chamber of DeputiesThe People of Freedom11 June 2020
Roberto Rampi, Italian Senate of the RepublicDemocratic Party 11 June 2020
Shiori Yamao, Japanese House of RepresentativesIndependent4 June 2020'
Gen Nakatani, Defense Minister, Japanese House of RepresentativesLiberal Democratic Party 4 June 2020'
Mantas Adomėnas, Lithuanian SeimasHomeland Union6 June 2020'
Dovilė Šakalienė, Lithuanian SeimasLithuanian Social Democratic Union11 June 2020
Martijn van Helvert, House of RepresentativesChristian Democratic Party 11 June 2020
Henk Krol, House of RepresentativesParty of the Future11 June 2020
Simon O'Connor, New Zealand House of RepresentativesNew Zealand National Party26 June 2020
Louisa Wall, New Zealand House of RepresentativesNew Zealand Labour Party26 June 2020
Trine Skei Grande, Norwegian StortingLiberal Party 6 June 2020'
Michael Tetzschner, Norwegian StortingConservative Party 6 June 2020'
Elisabet Lann, Deputy Mayor, Gothenburg MunicipalityChristian Democrats 4 June 2020'
Fredrik Malm, Swedish RiksdagLiberals 4 June 2020'
Fabian Molina, National Council Social Democratic Party of Switzerland20 June 2020
Yves Nidegger, National Council Swiss People's Party20 June 2020
Lucy Akello, Parliament of UgandaForum for Democratic Change11 July 2020
Thomas Tayebwa, Parliament of UgandaNational Resistance Movement11 July 2020
Iain Duncan Smith, House of Commons of the United KingdomConservative Party 4 June 2020'
Baroneess Kennedy, UK House of LordsLabour Party 4 June 2020'
Robert Menendez, United States SenateDemocratic Party 4 June 2020'
Marco Rubio, United States SenateRepublican Party 4 June 2020'