Europe must reduce its strategic dependence on China and take a much more clear-eyed approach towards Beijing, ECR MEPs warned during today’s European Parliament debate on EU-China relations.

For the ECR Group, China’s support for Russia’s war against Ukraine, growing pressure on Taiwan, unfair economic practices and systematic human-rights abuses make continued European dependence on Beijing increasingly difficult to justify.

Speaking ahead of the vote on a resolution, ECR Shadow Rapporteur Sebastian Tynkkynen said:

“China is the key enabler of Russia’s war of destruction and conquest against Ukraine. Without China’s diplomatic, economic and material support, Russia’s terrorist forces would be in a considerably weaker position.

“This is a Communist Party dictatorship that systematically oppresses ethnic and religious minorities and tramples on human rights. China’s apparatus of oppression does not stop at its own borders. Rather, it puts pressure on and harasses dissidents around the world, including here in our own countries. If we build a closer partnership with China, we will be neglecting our own values and our own security.”

The ECR Group is calling for Europe to reduce its exposure to Chinese supply chains, technologies and other strategic dependencies, particularly in sectors that are important for Europe’s economic and national security.

Speaking in the plenary debate, ECR MEP Mariusz Kamiński said:

“We must always remember the true nature of the Chinese state. We demand that China respect the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rules of the World Trade Organization. Our relations with Beijing must be based on respect for these principles.

“Chinese prisons are filled with thousands of political prisoners. Let me symbolically name just a few heroes of the struggle for freedom: Jimmy Lai, sentenced to 20 years for defending the rights of the people of Hong Kong; Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti; and the Tibetan Panchen Lama.”

ECR MEP Alberico Gambino warned that Europe must also confront its own responsibility for the loss of competitiveness and growing strategic dependence on China, pointing in particular to the impact of an overly restrictive green transition on European industry. Gambino said:

“Today we’re talking about the trade imbalance with China and our strategic dependencies, but we need to have the courage of our convictions and really face up to our own failings. We have imposed too constrictive an ideological and green technological transition.

“We’ve stopped our countries supporting their companies and some of them have been really run into the ground, and we’re losing competitiveness as a result. Therefore, it’s not walls against Beijing that we need, it’s better protection of our own industry, of our own employment and a strategic approach.”

ECR MEP Arkadiusz Mularczyk criticised EU policies that have weakened European industry while increasing China’s competitive advantage, particularly in the automotive sector. He also warned against allowing Chinese interests to gain control over strategically important European transport infrastructure.

Mularczyk said:

“With their subsidies, they’re flooding us with electric cars. And because of the green madness and the ban of ICE engines, this has weakened our automotive industry and opened the door for Chinese domination.

“Others are building logistical centres in Europe, buying out our seaports and terminals as they do in Greece. It’s not a free market, it’s a strategic overtake with Brussels doing nothing.”

ECR MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen focused on another aspect of Europe’s relationship with Beijing: the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities. He highlighted the case of the ‘Zion 8’, eight Christians detained for practising their faith and organising online worship.

Ruissen said:

“These are eight Christians who have been detained in China for over a year, in terrible circumstances, in an absolutely rammed detention centre, with no proper medical treatment and very stringent disciplinary procedures. And why is this? Simply because they were practising their faith and organising online worship.

“We need to call this out. I call upon the Council and the Commission to urge China to release the Zion 8 as soon as possible. We have really got to make sure that we keep this at the centre point of our talks with China.”

For the ECR Group, reducing economic dependencies must go hand in hand with a firmer response to China’s repression of ethnic and religious minorities, its treatment of political opponents and its attempts to intimidate dissidents beyond its own borders.

The Group also stresses the importance of working closely with the United States and other democratic partners to strengthen resilient supply chains, protect critical infrastructure and develop a coordinated response to China’s growing economic and geopolitical influence.