The author is a Member of the European Parliament and European Co-Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
“Red flags” in relationships are warning signs that point to dangerous behaviour and potential problems. They signal that something is not right and must therefore be taken seriously.
This applies not only to personal relationships but also to relationships between countries. In building partnerships, trust can only grow if we can see what values our partners uphold and how they respond in both good times and difficult circumstances.
What about the relationship with China? At first sight, we see one of the world’s oldest civilisations, which gave the world paper and the compass, and which has preserved its language, script, and cultural identity for millennia. At the same time, it is one of the largest economies on the planet, with its metropolises rivalling global business centres.
On the one hand, it is a combination of rich history and vibrant modernity. But China also has its darker side. The totalitarian communist regime ruling China today is inhumane, disregards the lives of its own citizens, grossly violates human rights, and undermines international security and treaties.
Warning signs
When we look at the actions of the Chinese Communist Party, several warning lights immediately flash in any democratic society.
It does not respect human rights and systematically violates them. It persecutes religious and spiritual communities such as Falun Gong, Christian churches and fellowships, and other groups. It commits crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs. It is estimated that one million people, on the basis of their ethnicity, are being held in labour camps where they are forced into slave labour.
It carries out deportations and forced sterilisations, while torture and disappearances continue. Furthermore, it seeks to control public space. Civil initiative is entirely restricted, arbitrary arrests and detentions are widespread, and the National Security Law is used against dissenting voices.
Despite international guarantees, it has crushed autonomy and freedoms in Hong Kong, which mainland China had pledged to respect.
It constantly threatens and militarily intimidates Taiwan and facilitates Russian aggression against Ukraine, for instance by exporting sanctioned products for military production.
It also suppresses the human rights of Tibetans, including cultural restrictions, forced communist “re-education”, and attacks on religious freedoms through an extensive system of control.
It leads a coordinated campaign on the international stage to undermine and rewrite international norms and to influence global institutions to serve the interests of the totalitarian regime.
It exerts pressure on open societies and economies through foreign interference, strategic investments, and military aggression.
It exploits the free market to undermine our companies through massive state subsidies.
The Chinese communist regime also interferes in European democracies and targets its political opponents within EU territory, which constitutes blatant interference with our sovereignty. It even operates secret police stations here.
It pressures European countries to deport Chinese citizens who speak out critically against its totalitarian rule.
Risks to the economy and security
For all these reasons, the highest level of caution is required in relations with China. This concerns not only fundamental values but also the economy and security.
Trade relations between EU countries and China raise serious concerns and pose risks to the Union’s economic security. The policy of the Chinese Communist Party creates economic dependence, excessive industrial capacity, and aggressively distorts the market, particularly in critical sectors such as green technologies and infrastructure.
It restricts the export of critical raw materials, which has already affected some car manufacturers in Europe who were forced to halt production due to delayed deliveries.
In China’s hands, this is a tool of trade strategy. The power to disrupt supply chains directly targets our industrial base and poses a risk to economic security. In Slovakia alone, the automotive industry provides livelihoods for 250,000 people.
It is striking that our government does not sufficiently perceive this threat, nor did I hear that it was raised as a topic during the recent visit to Beijing. Yet this threat should prompt the question of whether China is truly a reliable partner.
I expect our government to devote proper attention to these problems, threats, and unfair practices, with the aim of protecting our economy.
What options do the European Union and Slovakia have?
Many of the problems mentioned will likely persist in the near future, but the EU must act jointly and decisively. It must increase pressure on China to lift unjustified export restrictions, while at the same time reducing its dependence on strategic raw materials.
This will require coordination with partners and major investment in building extraction and processing chains, particularly in Africa and Latin America. In this way, the EU will reduce the export of unprocessed minerals to China and bring advantages to our own companies.
Another step could be to support a circular economy aimed at increasing the recycling of essential materials.
The main response to the growing challenges of the Chinese authoritarian regime, which seeks to reshape the global order according to its own rules, is cooperation among democratic countries. Only the joint action of the European Union, the United States, and other democratic nations can create sufficient pressure for China to change its behaviour and start respecting international obligations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Such cooperation also has an economic dimension, as the overwhelming majority of quality investments in Slovakia come precisely from Western partners. Quality investments that raise living standards are in our interest. We will not find them in China.
Take, for example, the plan to build a battery factory in Šurany. Local residents fear environmental devastation, of the kind already seen with Chinese investments in Serbia and elsewhere. In addition, such investments are typically characterised by low wages.
That is the government’s vision of economic cooperation with China. But I consider quality investment to be that which brings added value, regional development, and well-paid jobs with dignity.
The commitment to strengthen cooperation among democracies, at a time when we face Beijing’s aggressive influence, was something I negotiated and confirmed by signing the joint declaration of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) in Washington in May this year.
In this way, we show China that, together with our partners, we are determined to deepen coordination in order to protect our shared values, strengthen collective resilience, and ensure that the free world remains united in defending a peaceful, rules-based international order.
Flowers on Tiananmen Square
It pains me that the Slovak prime minister goes to lay flowers on Tiananmen Square in Beijing with blinkers on. There stands the Monument to the People’s Heroes, which is where his steps will lead him. But the square is symbolic for another reason too.
In June 1989, the government brutally crushed the protests of young people there, deploying tanks and armed troops against its own citizens. It is estimated that thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, were killed.
To this day, it is forbidden in China to commemorate these events, and ordinary Chinese cannot lay flowers where their relatives fought for freedom.
A prime minister who was a true statesman would honour those very victims. But from the head of a government that has abolished the national holiday marking the Day of the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy (November 17), and who ignores the events that led to democracy and freedom in our own country, one can hardly expect a statesmanlike gesture.
For me personally, for my Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), and I believe for the majority of Slovaks, freedom is sacred. That is why I long for the day when I too may go to Tiananmen Square and lay flowers for the victims who gave their lives for freedom.
© Sme
