Canada
IPAC co-chair Garnett Genuis MP led calls in Parliament for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to recognise the abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang as a genocide, having also questioned the Foreign Minister on the case earlier in the week.
European Parliament
IPAC MEP Anna Fotyga questioned the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell on whether the EU-China CAI investment deal would leave Europe open to hostile actions from China, as experienced by Australia. Earlier Anna Fotyga had secured an amendment pledging closer political and economic cooperation with Taiwan.
IPAC members Reinhard Bütikofer MEP and Engin Eroglu MEP raised concerns over the weak language on ratification of ILO forced labour conventions included within the CAI agreement after the EU lost a dispute over similar wording on labour standards in a trade deal with South Korea.
Japan
IPAC co-chairs Rep. Shiori Yamao and Rep. Gen Nakatani have launched a cross-party parliamentary group to press for a Japanese version of the Magnitsky Act, with a view to target officials responsible for China’s crackdown in Hong Kong.
United Kingdom
IPAC MPs Bob Seely and Chris Byrant questioned HSBC representatives over the bank’s freezing of accounts belonging to Hong Kong pro-democracy activists at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Siobhain McDonagh MP also raised the case of HSBC and Ted Hui, calling on UK financial regulators to exert influence on banks and financial institutions acting as a “prop” to totalitarian regimes.
IPAC member Nusrat Ghani MP spoke at a parliamentary debate commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day, citing concerns of alleged genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang raised by the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
