mr president this house has long been critical of the people's republic of china for its treatment of ethnic minorities
the uighurs of xinjiang province have suffered more than most particularly since the occupation of east turkestan by the people's republic of china in nineteen forty-nine
the people's republic claims that it does not seek territorial expansion
history shows that in east turkestan tibet and taiwan under communist rule it has sought to rule and to subjugate
that is the reason why the european union must not lift the arms embargo on china
for a european prime minister to refer to the reaction to the latest unrest as genocide is perhaps an exaggeration but for the people's republic to complain of interference in internal affairs betrays a world view which is touchingly antiquated
if the contours of the world economy are drawn in the computer campuses of west coast america in the call centres of india in the factories of china if major decisions can be communicated from beijing to brussels in a nanosecond we have become truly one global community and there is no room in this community for repression or subjugation on the basis of race or religion or ethnicity no room for islamophobia or for anti-semitism or any other kind of hatred
china's problems stem in this instance from the greying of the middle kingdom
they need more young people to work elsewhere similar to the problems we face here in the european union
i saw this when i visited urumqi four years ago
but the people's republic will find that it needs policies to protect economic migrants policies to recognise the legitimate demands of ethnic minorities just as we do
here mr bildt is a role for the european union
we know that as democracies mature so they become more willing to allow people self-government and self-determination
indeed the biggest problems in europe are found in the younger democracies like spain and hungary
we need to help the chinese people who are quite capable of living in democracy as taiwan and hong kong show to match their growing economic strength with a growing political maturity in developing democracy and help them develop the policies to match policies like erasmus mundus policies of which the commissioner has spoken to increase people-to-people exchange
i am convinced that the european union can play an important role in working with china to these ends
