HONG KONG • A group of senior lawmakers from several democracies, including the United States, have launched a new cross-parliamentary alliance to help counter what they say is the threat China's growing influence poses to global trade, security and human rights.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, launched yesterday, comes as the US struggles to muster a cohesive alliance to take on China's growing economic and diplomatic clout and as it leads foreign governments in condemning Beijing's move to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong that threatens the city's autonomy.
The group said it aims to "construct appropriate and coordinated responses, and to help craft a proactive and strategic approach on issues related to the People's Republic of China".
US Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democrat Bob Menendez, former Japanese defence minister Gen Nakatani, European Parliament foreign affairs committee member Miriam Lexmann and British Conservative lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith are all co-chairs of the newly launched group.
"China, under the rule of Chinese Communist Party, represents a global challenge," Mr Rubio, who backs US legislation targeting China over its actions in Hong Kong, said in a message on Twitter.
Beijing has stressed that the situation in Hong Kong is an internal matter and that its broader economic and diplomatic expansion poses no threat to the world.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news briefing yesterday: "We urge a small number of politicians to respect facts, respect the basic rules of international relations, abandon a Cold War mentality, stop interfering in domestic affairs and making political moves for selfish interests."
The newly formed alliance said that China's economic rise is putting the global, rules-based order under pressure and that countries that have tried to stand up to Beijing have mostly done so alone - and "often at great cost".
The list of participating nations includes the US, Germany, Britain, Japan, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, as well as members of the European Parliament. Several have faced economic or political consequences for crossing China's strategic ambitions.
The Trump administration's assertive efforts to rewrite the bilateral trade relationship with China triggered a protracted trade war that has had global consequences, while other efforts have seen US journalists ejected from China.
Canada saw two of its citizens - Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor - detained without trial as a result of the arrest of a top executive of Chinese firm Huawei. Australia's efforts to hold China accountable for the coronavirus pandemic have led to new tariffs on Australian barley and bans on some meat.
"The time has come for democratic countries to unite in a common defence of our shared values," Britain's Mr Smith said on Twitter.
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