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TOKYO, Feb. 17 (AP) — The former leaders of Australia, Britain and Belgium on Friday called on the international community to take a tougher stance on China to reduce the likelihood of war against Taiwan and to do more about human rights abuses. out response.
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, speaking at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance China Conference in Tokyo, linked China’s human rights abuses to security in the Indo-Pacific region. He was joined by two other former leaders – Liz Truss from the UK and Guy Verhofstadt from Belgium.
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The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of lawmakers from more than 30 countries, wants to see how democracies treat Beijing, hoping the event will promote more coordinated diplomacy with China ahead of the next G7 summit scheduled for 2019 in Hiroshima . possible.
Morrison urged the Australian government to consider sanctions against Chinese officials who violated the human rights of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region, while also working on broader security concerns.
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“The reason I’m highlighting these broader initiatives is to underscore that any effort to address China’s human rights abuses in areas where China enjoys strategic hegemony will not materialize,” Morrison said.
“Only on the platform of a free and open Indo-Pacific can these worthy and important goals be realistically achieved in a region that upholds and respects a rules-based global order.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday she would not speculate on the possibility of the Australian government following Morrison’s advice. “I’m not sure how much advice on foreign policy it would be wise to take from Mr Morrison,” Joshua Wong told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra.
Truss urged the international community to coordinate defense, economic and political measures and take a tougher approach to China to defend Taiwan “before it’s too late.”
“When it comes to China, inaction now could cost us dearly in the long run. Our government must signal (China) that military aggression against Taiwan would be a strategic mistake,” Trala said. S said.
China claims Taiwan as its territory and has threatened to take it back by force if necessary.
“We need to protect the interests of the people of Taiwan above all else, but also to protect our interests and ensure that trade and freedom of navigation with Taiwan can continue unimpeded,” Truss said. “We need it now before it’s too late.”
She said she regretted that the West did not act quickly and forcefully against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and that the world should learn from it.
Truss also called for the use of economic power “in the interest of liberty and democracy” and urged the G7 and its allies to act as the economic version of NATO.
“This economic clout means we can influence other countries. It means we can decide how we trade, where we invest, what technology we export,” she said.
Verhofstadter proposed a “new” NATO that could contribute to global security by countering Chinese assertiveness with a European defense alliance as its backbone.
“If we share the same interest in some of China’s unacceptable ambitions, then we need to join forces to face them together, not apart,” Verhofstadter said. “So my plea today is that NATO should evolve from an Atlantic treaty organization to a world treaty organization.” (AP)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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