Summary: In a rare move, European Union officials will visit Tibet as part of their annual human rights dialogue with China, amid rising tensions over human rights issues.
European Union officials are set to visit Tibet this month as a side outing to their annual human rights dialogue with China, according to an exclusive report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The dialogue will take place on June 16 in Chongqing, an EU spokeswoman confirmed.
Rare Access to Tibet
Brussels requested the visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region to examine human rights conditions, providing Beijing with the names of some prisons it hoped to see. “As it stands now, a side visit to Tibet is also being organised by the Chinese authorities for a small group of officials from the European External Action Service who follow human rights issues,” said Nabila Massrali, the EU’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, according to SCMP.
The EU delegation will be led by Paola Pampaloni, the second-in-command on its Asia desk within the union’s diplomatic corps. The visit to Tibet, a region rarely accessed by European delegations, signifies a significant development amid the ongoing scrutiny of China‘s human rights practices.
Focus on Human Rights
Brussels plans to address various human rights concerns in China, including issues in Tibet, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Hong Kong. In a statement last year, the EU highlighted practices such as “obligatory boarding schooling and DNA sampling” as indications of the dire human rights situation in Tibet. The EU continues to call for “meaningful, unrestricted and unsupervised access by independent international experts, foreign journalists and diplomats to Tibet, Xinjiang, and elsewhere in China,” reports SCMP.
Human Rights Watch recently reported that the Chinese government has accelerated the relocation of rural villagers and herders in Tibet since 2016, often moving them hundreds of kilometers away. Beijing describes these relocations as voluntary, aimed at improving livelihoods and protecting the environment, but denies all charges of human rights violations in Tibet, according to SCMP.
Broader Context of EU-China Relations
The situation in Xinjiang will also be a key topic at the dialogue in Chongqing. Last year, the EU referred to a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Xinjiang, emphasizing the urgency of implementing its recommendations. The dialogue will also address the deterioration of freedoms in Hong Kong, as previously raised by the EU, SCMP reports.
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The human rights dialogue between the EU and China had been an annual event until it was paused during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The talks resumed following a pledge at the 2022 EU-China summit, according to SCMP.
Sanctions and Legislative Measures
The dialogue occurs against a backdrop of ongoing sanctions related to human rights conditions in Xinjiang. The EU has introduced laws holding big companies accountable for human rights and environmental abuses in their supply chains. If businesses cannot perform due diligence on suppliers, especially in regions like Xinjiang, they are advised to leave, SCMP reports.
Another law bans the use of forced labor, impacting products made under such conditions globally, in compliance with World Trade Organization rules. The UN’s human rights chief accused China of committing “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang in a 2022 report, allegations that Beijing dismissed as disinformation fabricated by anti-China forces, according to SCMP.
Shifting Priorities
Human rights, a longstanding issue in EU-China relations, have been overshadowed in recent years by geopolitical concerns, particularly China’s relationship with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Economic concerns have also become more prominent, with the EU set to impose import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles next week, reports SCMP.
The upcoming human-rights dialogue and the unprecedented visit to Tibet will test the EU’s commitment to addressing human rights issues amid complex geopolitical and economic dynamics.
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