On Thursday, Matthew Pottinger said that the deal, made despite China’s “grotesque human rights abuses,” has shocked American politicians on both sides of the aisle at a time when a new U.S. presidential administration is imminent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international group of lawmakers focused on combating threats posed by the Chinese regime.
‘No Longer Kid Ourselves’ Over China
“There is nowhere for bureaucrats in Brussels or Europe to hide. We can no longer kid ourselves that Beijing is on the verge of honoring labor rights, while it continues to build millions of square feet of factories for forced labor in Xinjiang” Pottinger said, according to IPAC.“The EU Commission’s haste to partner with Beijing despite its grotesque human rights abuses has removed a fig leaf,” he added.
The CAI pact was seven years in the making and was concluded “in principle” at a video conference attended by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Charles Michel, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The White House did not respond to a query about Pottinger’s alleged comments to IPAC.
Pottinger, who played a key role in shaping President Donald Trump’s China policy, has previously criticized Beijing’s predations around the world.
‘Paradoxical Mindset’
He said that “The CCP’s goal is to coax people and nations into a ‘paradoxical mindset’—through coopting or bullying—that’s ‘conducive to Beijing’s grand ambitions.’”“By portraying truth-telling as an act of belligerence, autocrats try to badger democracies into silence—and often succeed,” he said.
“It’s a mindset that on Monday says, ‘It’s too early to say whether Beijing poses a threat,’ and by Friday says ‘They’re a threat, all right, but it’s too late to do anything about it now.’”
Magnitsky Sanctions
On Dec. 7, following von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech in September, in which she said the EU must call out the Chinese regime’s human rights abuses and make decisions on sanctions more efficiently, the bloc decided to establish a global Magnitsky sanctions regime, enabling it to target individuals and entities responsible for human rights abuses.Nevertheless, she said the EU China pact was “an important landmark in our relationship with China and for our values-based trade agenda.”
“It will provide unprecedented access to the Chinese market for European investors, enabling our businesses to grow and create jobs,” she added.