The free world needs to form a united front to stand against China's campaign of infiltration, influence and intimidation, said experts, adding that such an alliance should collectively impose sanctions against perpetrators of atrocity crimes.
In an opinion piece in Washington Times, Jianli Yang (founder of Citizen Power Initiatives) and Benedict Rogers (the co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch) said the time has come to consider the establishment of a nonmilitary equivalent to NATO for democracy around the world, especially in the face of the growing threat from China.
"Such an alliance, building on the principles of the Summit for Democracy and the U.K.'s "network of liberty," would be a collective effort to act together to defend democratic values," they write.
China has been accused of genocide against Uyghurs Muslims. In addition to the charge of genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs, Beijing has recently rapidly dismantled Hong Kong's freedoms, human rights and autonomy in defiance of promises made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, registered at the U.N. and valid until 2047.
In so doing, it has dismissed the international rules-based order.
This, combined with its continuing repression in Tibet, forced organ harvesting, persecution of Christians, the crackdown on lawyers, media and civil society, make it, in the words of a previous independent tribunal on forced organ harvesting, a "criminal state."
Besides domestic aggression, China has been accused of aggression beyond its borders.
"Representative of a hostile state are its threats to critics and dissidents overseas, its trade war against Australia in retaliation for calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and, in the past, its freezing of relations with Norway when Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as well as the United Kingdom when former prime minister David Cameron met the Dalai Lama. Lithuania is the latest in Beijing's sights for strengthening relations with Taiwan," the authors pointed out.
Across the world, there is a growing recognition of the threat that the CCP regime poses to its people and the free world and talk of action.
"The time has come to consider the establishment of a nonmilitary equivalent to NATO for democracy around the world, especially in the face of the growing threat from China. Such an alliance, building on the principles of the Summit for Democracy and the U.K.'s 'network of liberty,' would be a collective effort to act together to defend democratic values," the author noted.
"The free world needs to form a united front to counter China's long-established "United Front" and stand up to Beijing's campaign of infiltration, influence and intimidation. Such an alliance should collectively impose sanctions against perpetrators of atrocity crimes, coordinate divestment from Chinese companies complicit with grave human rights violations, and work together to reduce our strategic dependency and diversify our supply chains," the author added
( With inputs from ANI )
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