IPAC Statement on Intimidation of IPAC Lawmakers by Representatives of the People's Republic of China
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We, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China condemn the coercive measures—both direct and indirect—taken by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against delegates to the IPAC Taipei Summit.
Peter Keniloria MP of the Solomon Islands, Miriam Lexmann MEP, of Slovakia, Catalin Tenita, MP, of Romania, Fatmir Bytyqi MP of North Macedonia, and Senator Centa Rek Lopez of Bolivia, among others, have been subjected to wholly inappropriate efforts by the PRC to limit their fundamental freedoms, both before, and after the Summit, held on 29-31 July 2024.
In addition, PRC spokespeople have issued several statements condemning IPAC, saying that our work on Taiwan is “external interference” which ”won’t be tolerated”.
Vibrant and active democracies are based on political freedoms that include the sharing and contesting of ideas in open discussion, unhindered political association, and the right to express political views without sanction or intimidation. These rights are enshrined in The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the PRC is a signatory.
The PRC’s coordinated program of political interference and intimidation over recent days, directed specifically against delegates to the IPAC 2024 Summit, is a clumsy and openly coercive series of actions designed to limit engagement and dialogue between democratically elected representatives.The PRC will not succeed in its efforts to prevent us discussing their persistent and deliberate conflation of their “One China Principle” with the “One China Policies” of different countries around the world.
They will not succeed in preventing us from campaigning to raise awareness around their troubling efforts to distort UN Resolution 2758, and to re-write the history books to fit their current narrative regarding Taiwan.
Neither the PRC, nor any other country, has the right to threaten foreign lawmakers for having entirely legitimate discussions of international law and global prosperity, nor seek to curb the freedom of movement of democratically elected lawmakers.
IPAC is - and will remain - a place where like-minded legislators can come together, united in the belief that only by standing together in the context of an increasingly revisionist and authoritarian PRC, will democratic countries uphold the rules-based system and guarantee freedom and human rights for all.
We stand resolutely with our colleagues against the PRC’s deplorable intimidation, and call upon our governments to spare no effort in protecting the freedoms of their parliamentarians, upon which the health of our democracies depend.
Signed by delegates to #IPACTaipei24 and IPAC Members:
Representative Adi Kalem
Alexandru Muraru MP
Lord (David) Alton of Liverpool
Senator Barry Ward
Baroness (Natalie) Bennett
Bernard Guetta MEP
Boris Mijatovic MdB
Catalin Tenita MP
Senator Centa Rek Lopez
Representative Chen Gau Tsu
Chris Law MP
Senator David Fawcett
Senator Deborah O’Neill
Dovile Sakaliene MP
Senator Eduardo Nakayama
Councillor Elisabet Lann
Representative Eva Decroix
Representative Fan Yun
Fatmir Bytyqi MP
Fatmir Mediu MP
Frank Rosentritt MdB
Representative Gen Nakatani
Senator Gustavo Leite
Representative Hyato Okamura
Hugh McDermott MP
Representative Iain Amatong
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP
Ingrid Leary MP
Representative Ryohei Iwatani
Senator James Paterson
Jan Paternotte MP
Karsten Hønge MP
Kevin Vuong MP
Senator Malcolm Byrne
Marius Matijošaitis MP
Marie Rimmer MP
Michael Brand MdB
Senator Michael McDowell
Miriam Lexmann MEP
Mykola Kniatsynski MP
Senator Olivier Cadic
Oleksandr Merezhko MP
Representative Otokita Shun
Senator Paola Holguin
Senator Pavel Fischer
Peter Keniloria MP
Reinhard Bütikofer
Senator Rufus Rodrigues
Sanela Klaric MP
Sandro Gozi MEP
Representative Shu Sakurai
Sujeet Kumar MP
Stewart McDonald
Timothy Loughton
Tom Van der Lee MP
Representative Toshitaka Ooka
Representative Yasue Fuayama
Yves Perron MP
Zygismantis Pavilionis MP