IPAC Weekly Newsletter: 27 November 2020

Canada
IPAC co-chair Garnett Genuis MP addressed the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations, raising concerns of ‘elite capture’ and the attempts of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department to illegitimately influence democratic processes.

European Union
IPAC co-chair Reinhard Bütikofer MEP spoke at the European Parliament calling for sanctions on Chinese government officials in response to the expulsion of pro-democrat lawmakers from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.

France
IPAC co-chair Sen. André Gattolin questioned the Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee, calling for the suspension of an extradition treaty with Hong Kong and on security threats posed by Huawei telecommunications

Italy  
Parliamentarians Matteo Luigi Bianchi, Alex Bazzaro, Paolo Formentini and Alessandro Vigna Giglio submitted parliamentary questions asking the Italian government to ensure the EU-China Common Agreement on Investment does not open the door for strategic assets to be bought by companies under the control of the Chinese state.

United Kingdom 
IPAC MPs Nus Ghani and Geraint Davies made parliamentary interventions urging the UK government on actions taken to protect Uyghur women from state violence and take measures to tighten capital flows from the City of London to Hong Kong respectively. 

After a request from IPAC co-chair Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, the Foreign Secretary made a statement of solidarity with Australia as the country comes under increasing Chinese pressure. 

United States
IPAC co-chair Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concerning Taiwan’s exclusion from the World Health Organization’s second session of the World Health Assembly (WHA).