Taiwan is a beacon of respect for human rights, tolerance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, peace and stability in South East Asia. With a population of 23.6 million people, Taiwan is an important partner for the EU and the US as a successful democracy that helps to promote our shared values in this part of the world.

Speaking with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, I asked him whether there was any support in Taiwan for the “one country two systems” concept, that the Communist Party in mainland China was advocating for their strategy of reunification. He replied that Taiwanese people are enjoying their freedom and their way of life; “This is a non-starter for our citizens,” he said, “We have our democracy. Why should people be asked to give up their freedom?”

According to the Mainland Affairs Council of Taiwan, almost 90% of all Taiwanese people prefer to maintain the status quo and reject the concept of one country two systems. They are of course aware of what is happening currently in Hong Kong, which was promised “50 years without change” under the joint declaration signed by Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping in 1984. But now, 22 years after the hand over of Hong Kong to mainland China to become a special administrative region of the country, there is massive popular protest against alleged interference in Hong Kong affairs.

Speaking in Nepal earlier this month, Communist China’s President Xi Jinping made reference to « Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones, » without mentioning any specific target for these remarks. The media has generally interpreted these comments as being directed against Hong Kong protesters. But the language used is exceptionally harsh, and comes as a reminder that China has not ruled out the possibility of using military force to bring Taiwan under the control of Communist mainland China.

Last week, Vice-President Mike Pence of the United States delivered a broadside aimed at mainland China, reprimanding the country for becoming ever “more aggressive and destabilising.” His remarks were balanced by the comment that “The United States does not seek confrontation with China. We seek a level playing field, open markets, fair trade and a respect for our values.”

Taiwan can only benefit from a trade deal being struck between China and the US, and the stabilising effect this would have on world business and trade.

An independent member of the World Trade Organisation since 2002, Taiwan had a total volume of trade of US$ 577 billion based on 2017, and the US was its third largest export market, and its fourth largest source of imported goods and services. With an annual GDP of US$ 589 billion based on World Bank 2018 figures, Taiwan is listed as the world’s 16th largest exporter of goods, the 21st strongest economy in the world, and is ranked as 13th in the 2019 Ease of Doing Business. The Netherlands seems to have got the message and is the biggest single source of foreign direct investment in Taiwan.

Increasingly the world is looking beyond business and trade results to define success, but nobody has yet come up with a “happiness index”. So the best I can do to assess Taiwan’s performance in looking after its increasingly diverse society is to record my personal observation that Taipei’s citizens seem to have lower levels of stress than their counterparts in Western cities; they are calm, polite, tolerant and clearly enjoy their freedom and their way of life. Which is exactly how it should be.

The post Letter from Taipei appeared first on Brussels Express.

President Erdogan of Turkey unilaterally invaded northern Syria last week in a colonial grab for land, power and control of oil and gas resources following the withdrawal of US Forces from the area.

A key strategic objective of Turkey is to close down the existing border crossing between Syria and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, and build a new crossing between Turkey and Iraq that will be under Turkish control. But with the aggression comes a sinister element of ethnic cleansing against Kurdish people.

The ethnic Syrian Kurds currently defending the residents in Northern Syria are the YPG (the Unit Protecting the People). Erdogan brands their troops as terrorists, when in fact they are forces that have fought alongside NATO allies to defeat IS. The disloyalty shown by the USA to their former allies has exposed them to unexpected attack from another NATO member, Turkey. Syrian Kurds are treated as stateless by Syria and have hitherto sought to oppose the Assad regime, but the betrayal by NATO caused by the US-Turkey stitch-up has left them with no alternative but to reach out to Assad and to Russia, calling on the Syrian Army to defend the frontier against invasion, whilst they concentrate their efforts on defending civilians.

It is not clear what motivated this erratic foreign policy move by the USA, but for certain the only beneficiaries will be Russia and President Assad.

Collateral damage caused by the unprovoked war instigated by the Turks will be the weakening of YPG defences in Syria and the inevitable escape of IS prisoners of war and their families to restart their terrorist operations against the West.

In the neighbouring Region of Kurdistan (KRG) in Iraq, they are bracing themselves for a wave of up to 250 000 refugees from this new theatre of war. KRG is already home to some 350 000 Kurdish refugees from the war in Syria, and a further 1.5 million Sunni Arab IDPs from previous conflict with IS in Iraq. Crisis centres have been activated and local NGOs are mobilised, but the reality is that this region is heavily stretched and starved of budget to deal with an emergency of such a scale. They are doing their best to provide camps with shelter, clean water, and the provision of health and education services for the existing refugee and IDP population but they will struggle to deal with these extra numbers without help.

If Europe is to avoid another refugee migrant crisis this winter, it is important to take urgent measures to:

a) call a permanent halt to Turkey’s military 
aggression against Syria and Syrian Kurds;

b) find a peaceful solution to the current conflict, 
 which is in everybody’s interest;

c) involve the Syrian Kurds in consultation about 
 the redesign of the Syrian constitution that 
 enfranchises them and gives them a fair say in 
 their future;

d) urge Turkey to review and improve its treatment 
 of its own Kurdish minority.

e) call for international efforts to increase the 
 resources needed to look after refugees in Iraq, 
Syria and the KRG – it is in the West’s interest 
 that the refugee crisis is dealt with as closely as 
 possible to the original homes of the innocent 
 victims – otherwise the migrant crisis that 
 Europe faced two years ago will be repeated.

The situation calls for the appointment of a Special Envoy either by the EU or by the UN who should be tasked to secure a peaceful solution to the current crisis, such as perhaps the negotiator Melhem Riachy, the former communications minister from the Lebanese Forces party, who helped to reconcile seemingly intractable differences and bring opposite parties together to resolve conflict in Lebanon. This style of intervention of parachuting in an impartial and experienced third party negotiator could be a useful component in unlocking the prolonged regional crisis in Northern Syria.

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 appeared first on Brussels Express.

Taiwan’s national day was celebrated in Brussels by a reception at the International Press Centre of the Residence Palace, at which Ambassador Harry Tseng Hojen delivered the keynote address. He voiced concern about the vision for the future of Taiwan-China relations.

“China’s president XI Jinping is hell-bent on achieving what he sees as reunification with Taiwan. It’s clear this has become a deeply personal mission for him,” he said.

Beijing is still promoting the concept of “one country, two systems” as a model for Taiwan to be brought under the governance of the People’s Republic of China. But the test in Hong Kong of this mantra, adopted when the territory was handed back to China in 1997 is proving to be awkward. Beijing promised that it would not meddle with the way of life enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong for 50 years. This promise was enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and in the Basic Law of Hong Kong.

But when Taiwan looks across to the images in Hong Kong of streets packed with young protesters, standing against authoritarianism in the shape of the Hong Kong police, backed by China, it isn’t hard to understand why the people of Taiwan have no faith in the model of “one country, two systems”.

On the positive side Taiwan can boast stellar economic achievements. With a population of just over 23 million people, it generates the 22nd largest GDP in the world according to the IMF. It is the 13th most competitive economy in the world according to the IMD, and accounts for the world’s 5th largest foreign exchange reserves.

Taiwan works effectively and cordially with the European Union, in areas ranging from trade and technology to the environment and human rights. The country shares and upholds the core values of democracy, the rule of law, freedom of the press, the right of assembly and religious freedoms. These are values that Taiwan has worked incredibly hard to protect its way of life as a liberal democratic republic.

Ambassador Tseng delivered his address on the same day that Turkish armed forces invaded Kurdish controlled territory in Syria, drawing into sharp relief the reality that in today’s international politics military adventures by totalitarian governments can be triggered without warning. Xi Jinping the President of the People’s Republic of China has refused to rule out the use of military force to invade Taiwan. He will be watching carefully how the USA responds to the aggression by President Erdogan to cause turmoil in the Middle East. Here in Europe we should take care to ensure that through trade, diplomacy and international friendship the efforts over decades by the Republic of China in Taiwan to build a model democracy on their island home is protected and their way of life respected.

The post Taiwan’s Double Tenth appeared first on Brussels Express.

He is taking over at a time when Europe faces challenges from all points, whether we look East to the ascending China and an aggressive Russia or West to President Trump. Those challenges are a given, but there is another country that merits the attention of the new Commission. What happens in Georgia, given its precarious position next to Europe’s belligerent Russian neighbour, should also be firmly on the EU’s agenda.

During June 2019, mass protests took place in Georgia, culminating in police violence being used against peaceful marchers on 20 June. Soon afterwards, the founder of leading Georgian financial institution, London-listed TBC bank, Mamuka Khazaradze, announced a new political movement, stating that the police violence had been a “red line” and that a new Georgian political movement was required to build Western style democracy and mend the widening political rifts in the country. The new Georgian politics seem to be well on the way to being developed, with an event taking place in Anaklia last week at which the ‘Lelo’ movement was born at a seaside rally and it is widely thought it will mature into an official political party in the autumn. Comparisons are being drawn with Macron’s “En Marche”movement that swept to power in France.

However, the European Union should be on high alert. Perhaps unsurprisingly, shortly after his political announcement, prosecutors brought fraud charges against Lelo founder Mamuka Khazaradze and his colleague Badri Japaridze. Concerns that the case is politically motivated have been fuelled by the fact that an 11-year old transaction had to be exhumed in order to try and make a case against Khazaradze. The timing of the charges is seen as being linked to the fact that the Lelo movement is viewed as a potentially serious rival to the main political parties, Georgian Dream (GD) and the United National Movement (NDM). Until now, GD leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man, has had the financial clout needed to feel secure in a country where money talks in politics. The entry into politics of a leading business figure such as Khazaradze seems to have caused some unease inside Georgian Dream, not least because polling figures show there is definitely a gap to be filled, with voters disillusioned with both GD and UNM.

The Anaklia deep-water port development, with which Khazaradze has been closely involved, is another reason that his political move is being resisted. Such a transformational transit hub between Asia and Europe is likely to irritate Georgia’s Russian neighbours who will see it as a threat to their influence and domination of regional infrastructure. It is likely that GD Chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili feels threatened by the project.

Europe has every reason to work for a prosperous and democratic Georgia. There have been ups and downs since we all watched with hope as the Rose Revolution took place. Georgia’s vital position at the crossroads between East and West means it could play a big role in global trade and the country’s democratic future is vital.  Prosecution of political opposition figures does not go unnoticed by the international community. The UK, France and USA have all had their embassies voice concerns about the Khazaradzecase. It is up to Georgia to decide what kind of country it wants to be, but its European friends have a crucial role to play. Let’s hope our no-nonsense EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell does indeed have Georgia on his mind.  

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It is very difficult for a politician to refuse advances from human rights activists. This is particularly the case in the institutions of European politics, where, in the absence of hard power of their own, politicians often use humanitarian issues as a platform to engage on an international stage.

Into this morass has stepped what appears at first sight to be an innocuous human rights NGO, fronted by a photogenic and highly articulate young woman who seeks to address the wrongs that are the legacy of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian citizen Lyudmyla Kozlovska, champion of Maidan, defender of the imprisoned and the maligned, and her Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) have become a fixture on the European human rights scene.

However, this NGO, originally founded by another Ukrainian citizen, Ivan Szerstiuk, who is reportedly currently serving an eighteen-year sentence in Ukraine for ordering a murder, in actuality serves a purpose, and indeed a master, far removed from the carefully crafted image it conveys so well.

As well as outstanding arrest warrants, multiple convictions, and considerable wealth, the key clients of the foundation, presented as politically persecuted champions of democracy, share something else in common: allegations of money laundering on a formidable scale.

French MEP Nicolas Bay, speaking during a meeting of the European Parliament’s committee on Financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance earlier this year, named the controversial Kazakh fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov as being the real figure behind the ODF.  « There are now very real questions about the funding of the activities of that Foundation. All too often, perpetrators of white-collar crimes are able to pass themselves off as victims », he said, calling for a parliamentary investigation into the activities of the organisation.

Bay’s call was echoed by Romanian MEP Andi Cristea, who declared that considering “the ODF’s efforts to defend one or more controversial characters, I believe that significant resources are needed to investigate in Brussels the transparency of the ODF’s funding and the correct recording of lobbying activities in the public register. The image-washing operation that the Foundation led for Ablyazov is not a secret to officials in Brussels.”

Ablyazov, who has multiple convictions and who has served two prison sentences in the past, in Kazakhstan and France, became responsible for possibly the greatest fraud in history when he embezzled some $7.6 billion from the BTA Bank, of which he was head. He has also received a life sentence for ordering the murder of his predecessor at the bank, Yerzhan Tatishev, in 2004. The fugitive also has an outstanding 22 month jail sentence awaiting him, should he ever return to the UK, handed down to him for contempt of court. This was confirmed in recent weeks when the outstanding arrest warrant in his name was formally extended.

His crimes, however, should not be viewed in isolation: he appears to be not a lone criminal, but part of an organised crime syndicate. Brussels-based journalist and author of the book Wanted Man: the story of Mukhtar Ablyazov (2019), Gary Cartwright, stated at a Brussels press conference recently, « if you want to know who Ablyazov’s partners in crime are, simply look at ODF’s client list.”

The list includes the likes of Ablyazov’s son-in-law, Ilyas Khrapunov, wanted in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, and named in an English court as having been involved in the laundering of Ablyazov’s cash through Donald Trump’s property enterprises. Also Khrapunov’s father, Viktor, a former mayor of Almaty, and, like his son, currently resident in Geneva is another of ODF’s so-called “persecuted oppositionists”.  The former Mayor of Almaty Viktor Khrapunov, his TV-anchorwoman wife Leila, and their son Ilyas stand accused of embezzlement schemes amounting to at least $300 million — they are the subject of lawsuits in the United Kingdom and the United States. The Khrapunovs have been described in the French language press as “one of the richest families in Switzerland”.

Nail Malyutin, currently serving six-years in Russia for stealing $4 million, and who has ties to Aslan “Djako” Gagiyev, a controversial figure whose gang stands accused of orchestrating more than sixty murders is represented by ODF, as is Moldovan businessman Vyacheslav Platon, a businessman named in the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) investigation into the Russian Laundromat. Platon is currently serving eighteen-years for his part in what became known as the “theft of the century,” in which 12.5% of the nation’s GDP went missing from three banks.

ODF appears, with some success, to have created a model for its wealthy clients: the establishment of a political organisation, positioned in opposition to the government of the country or countries in which they are wanted, and then formulating a campaign for their « human rights », carefully positioning them alongside genuine and high profile victims such as Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov.

This abuse of the human rights platform was attacked by former UK MEP Nikki Sinclaire who said  “For those of us who have fought tirelessly for Human Rights, it feels like a punch in the stomach when someone uses mechanisms to slyly promote their own self interest.  Such actions undermine the work of genuine Human Rights activists and deserve to be highlighted.”

Another vocal critic of ODF is one-time ally, Polish MEP Anna Fotyga, who has severed her links with the organisation stating in the European Parliament that it has “ceased to be a non-political NGO and is not a credible organisation”.

As well as undermining the work of genuine human rights activists, ODF can also be seen to be corrupting important European political institutions. An Interpol Red Notice calling for Ablyazov’s arrest was successfully lifted following successful lobbying of the European Parliament deputies by Kozlovska. There have been questions asked as to exactly how this was achieved. « The MEPs who supported the initiative by ODF were all asked if they, or their families, had received any pecuniary advantage in return for their support, » Cartwright said to the author of this article. « Whilst we have no evidence to suggest that this may be the case, it is noticeable that not one has directly denied it.”

Interpol undermined, parliamentarians possibly corrupted, this is the work that ODF does so well.

However, the organisation itself came under the spotlight when in April of this year Britain’s Sunday Times published a damning article implicating it in money laundering activities allegedly related to Ablyazov’s ill gotten gains. A company owned by Kozlovska’s husband, Bartosz Kramek, was named as having benefited from money laundering activities involving a number of Scottish based companies, to the tune of more than £1 million.

Until the Sunday Times article appeared, Kramek was mainly known for his somewhat bizarre July 2017 call to overthrow the Polish government, encouraging acts of civil disobedience such as the withholding of tax payments and teachers’ strikes. This led to increased governmental interest in Kramer, Kozlovska, and in particular ODF’s finances.

All of this is being presented by ODF as the political persecution of Kramek, thus winning over those who are opposed to the current ruling party such as Belgian Liberal Democrat MEP, Guy Verhofstadt, who personally intervened when Kozlovska was subject to an order banning her from entering the Schengen zone. Thanks largely to his efforts, in March of this year Kozlovska was granted a five year residency permit in Belgium, and the Schengen Information System (SIS), which exists to protect the security of EU citizens, was added to the list of political mechanisms and institutions undermined by the activities of ODF.

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On Tuesday (June 25th) upon the initiative of PACE Member, Italian senator, Roberto Rampi, the controversial Human Rights NGO Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) and the Italian Federation for Human Rights organised a side-event under the banner “Post-elections scenarios in Ukraine, Moldova and Kazakhstan. Between political uncertainty and regime consolidation”.

The moderator was Lyudmyla Kozlovska, President of the Foundation, recently implicated by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper in serious money laundering allegations. ODF, the Sunday Times reported, was allegedly founded and funded, and is under the control of, the notorious Kazakh fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, who has convictions for fraud and murder, as well as outstanding extradition warrants from at least three state.

Ms. Kozlovska and ODF have also been accused of being in receipt of Russian money, and having done business with Russian entities that are subject to US/EU sanctions arising from the illegal Crimean annexation, which raises questions over her presence in Strasbourg at this particular time.

Speakers at the event included Kazakh citizen Bota Jardemalie, who is wanted in connection with Ablyazov’s crimes, and Antonio Stango, of the aforementioned Italian Federation for Human Rights. Senator Rampi’s event was also reportedly attended by French MP Andre Gattolin, who whilst he did not speak at the event, appears to enjoy a “good relationship” with ODF.

Ms. Jardemalie, who currently resides in an upmarket suburb of Brussels, Belgium, in the guise of a ‘political refugee’, is the sister of former Kazakh businessman Iskander Yerimbetov, currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in his home country for embezzlement.

The event did not arouse any significant interest; the meeting room was almost empty. According to a source from the the Council of Europe, who has information on the preparation of the event, speaking on condition of anonymity, around ten parliamentarians had been invited, but apart from Senator Rampi, only French Senator Andre Gattolin showed up.

As appears to be standard practice at ODF conferences, not a single question was taken from the press. It was noted, however, that Ms. Jardemalie was allowed to dominate proceedings, speaking for 22 of the allowed 60 minutes. Her intervention was largely an invective against former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and the newly elected and formally recognised by the EU, US, UK and other countries President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

This event was effectively a lobbying event on the behalf of Mukhtar Ablyazov and other extremely wealthy wanted and convicted criminals, most, if not all, of whom appear to be implicated in Ablyazov’s crimes, and questions must be asked as to how this was allowed to happen under the auspices of such an important international institution as PACE.

Given the criminal background of Mukhtar Ablyazov, and the serious questions hanging over ODF and the event of June 25th, Senator Rampi was asked questions by a senior Brussels journalist concerning whether either he or any of his family members had ever received money or other gifts/services from the Open Dialog Foundation, it’s employees, or from Mukhtar Ablyazov or any of his family members.

The Senator was also asked if he was aware of recent allegations, and evidence presented, about the Open Dialog Foundation published in the British Sunday Times newspaper in April of this year, and other articles in European media that reveal the details of this organisation’s involvement in money laundering activities, and if he believes that ODF is a credible human rights organisation.

The questions were posed to the Senator on multiple occasions, however no response was received.

Journalists note that during his closing remarks, an embarrassed looking Rampi made vague comments about human rights, but was careful enough to avoid any real discussion of the subject of the conference.

Similar questions e-mailed recently to British Labour MEP Julie Ward, prompted by her interventions to Interpol on behalf of Mukhtar Ablyazov, and apparently at the behest of ODF, were met with banal, and non-committal comments that failed to either confirm or deny the questions posed.

On June 25th PACE representatives were met by a sizeable number of representatives of the Kazakh diaspora from all over Europe, who organised a picket outside the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg.

The impetus for this rally was frustration at the inaction of EU authorities, who have failed take any measures against Ablyazov and his criminal syndicate, many of who reside in EU member states, and who have outstanding extradition warrants against them, who are implicated in organised criminal activities, and whose extradition is demanded by at least three states where they are wanted in relation to serious fraud charges, and outstanding convictions for embezzlement and murder.

Picketers called and chanted in Kazakh, English, French and Russian languages, “Mukhtar is a fraudster” and “The fraudster must be jailed”, calling for him to be either extradited, or to be brought to justice in France.

This ODF event was little more than platform for interested parties to make statements and to defend their own positions; it was in effect a lobbying event on behalf of rich individuals who wish to avoid responsibility for the crimes they have committed.

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Tokayev’s successful election was already predicted by political analyst Stephen Bland speaking at the Brussels Press Club some 2 weeks before the event, who called it more of a “coronation” of the state-preferred candidate for President rather than an election.

Bland had been speaking at a seminar investigating the work of NGOs in Brussels which have been used as front organisations representing the vested interests of oligarchs, without any proper transparency concerning the origin of their funding. One such organisation is the Brussels-based Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) run by Lyudmyla Kozlovska and her husband Bartosz Kramek. According to Bland there are proven financial links between ODF and the Kazakh fugitive oligarch and convicted fraudster Mukhtar Ablyazov.

Bland has thoroughly researched the history of the Kazakh oligarch now living in exile in France, and was the editor of the book “Wanted Man”, published recently by Brussels-based author Gary Cartwright which tells the story of Ablyazov.

Bland says that the ODF has been linked to lobbying activities in the name of “human rights” whereby they represent a number of extremely wealthy fugitives, mostly wanted for money laundering in Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and other countries, presenting them publicly as persecuted members of the political opposition.

Kozlovska has in the past enjoyed personal support from individual members of the European Parliament, such as Anna Fotyga MEP and Julie Ward MEP, but according to Bland these politicians have now sought to distance themselves from her and her organisation.

What is clear is that much of the funding for ODF is paid through shell companies, often transferred by PayPal and Western Union making it more difficult to investigate a clear audit trail. Two of the shell companies used for this purpose are Kariastra Ltd and Silk Road Ltd.

ODF’s fugitive oligarch sponsor Mukhtar Ablyazov did attempt in 2017 to fund political opposition in Kazakhstan (the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK)), but the party he established was declared an extremist organisation last March by the Kazakh courts, for inciting social discord and making public calls for the seizure of power.

It is not clear whether the ODF or Ablyazov have been involved behind the scenes in funding any of the civil protests and demonstrations that have followed yesterday’s elections in Kazakhstan. Similarly, Bland did not have any information regarding ODF’s involvement in the funding of any individual MEPs or their parties in last month’s European Parliament elections.

At the time of writing it remains to be seen whether the EU will continue to uphold Poland’s request to ban ODF’s Kozlovska and Branek from entering the Schengen zone, which they requested in August 2018 on the grounds that they allegedly posed a threat to the national security of Poland, because of a public call by Branek to bring down the Polish government.

But what is clear is that both the Kazakh and the EU authorities will need to continue to co-operate closely in monitoring the use of fake news by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the pursuit of their clients’ agendas, including potentially disruptive intervention against their political opponents.

Incoming President Tokayev has many important tasks on his agenda to promote Kazakhstan’s transition to democracy and keep the economy stable and dynamic. One area which should command his priority attention, as the population becomes more international in its expectations is the promotion of independence of the media and the freedom of speech. The EU institutions in Brussels should also provide supportive assistance to Kazakhstan’s emerging democracy in this regard, to include the identification and elimination of rogue NGOs like ODF.

The post Interview with Stephen Bland on the Open Dialogue Foundation appeared first on Brussels Express.

But there was nothing idyllic about the nightmare of his vision. Whilst reading his works, I was aware then in the late 20th century of the obsession of the Chinese Communist Party with worship of their great leader Mao Tse-Tung, the suppression of religion, and compliant obedience to the state – I even owned a poster of Mao speaking to a group of worshipful peasant farmers wearing traditional Uyghur costumes – but I could never have imagined at that time that Orwell’s vision would become such a terrifying and horrific reality in today’s 21st century China.

He chose the year 1984 as a date which was far in the future at the time of writing. For the people of Xinjiang province in the far North West of China, their nightmare of totalitarian state control by the Chinese Communist Party started to escalate in 2016. Orwell may have predicted the wrong date, and he could not have forecast the rapid development of information technology to enable such manipulative behaviour by governments, but he well understood the timeless psychology of political evil to exploit scientific advantage.

Xinjiang is three times the size of France, with a population of about 21 million people, of whom half belong to the Uyghur ethnic minority. In a surveillance programme which appears to be intended to prevent radicalisation and potential terrorist activities by Muslims, since 2016 huge “Vocational Training Centres” have been built in the province to “re-educate” citizens who are arbitrarily arrested and detained if the state considers that they might be at risk of imminently committing an offence. Using data recognition gathered from closed circuit camera networks, and routine data capture about facts such as “Has the subject grown a beard?” or “Does the subject pray at home?” the state surveillance calculates and takes into account social points which are then tallied and used to assess the need for “re-education”.

Journalists such as Lily Kuo in the Guardian and James Millward in the New York Review of Books have written about the re-education camps since 2017, but outside China little is actually known about the camps and the number of inmates. According to Rune Steenberg of the University of Copenhagen between 2 and 3 million people have come in and out of the camps since their construction and expansion. At any one time it is thought that these enormous camps, covering millions of square metres, house more than one million inmates.

Whilst it is not clear what exactly is happening in the camps, it is a fact that the detainees are being routinely abused and their rights destroyed. But it is perhaps more important to focus on what is going on outside the camps, because the damage caused to families and to the social system is enormous. When a member of the community is arrested for detention and re-education, this means the loss of a bread winner for a family and an impact on religious structures which causes greater fragmentation of society and actually has the detrimental effect of leading to a stronger potential for radicalisation. This can only be an unintended consequence. The Chinese State appears to believe that it is fighting against terrorism, but its brutal actions against religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang amount to blatant ethnic cleansing.

Academics such as Vanessa Frangville of the Université Libre de Bruxelles are calling for international action against China for the crimes being committed against its own citizens. She is appealing to universities worldwide to suspend cooperation with the Ministry of Education in China, and to stop doing business as usual with Chinese institutions. She urges an international investigation into the numbers of camps in Xinjiang, a list of the victims interned, the state of their mental health, and a proper record of what has happened to missing persons who have not been accounted for in the province.

Considering the secrecy shrouding the manipulative state control of China’s far North West, and the concern of academia about the future impact of such policies on society, it comes as no surprise that in China’s deep south the intelligent residents of Hong Kong are protesting furiously to protect their civil rights. Huge demonstrations are taking place this week to try to stop the enactment of legislation that would facilitate the extradition of suspects from Hong Kong to China for the first time. They fear that this would be the thin end of the wedge in China’s increasing control over the “one country two systems” policy envisioned by the handover of Hong Kong by UK to China in 1997, and that the legislation would be exploited by China for use against political targets.

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His election winning strategy was built on opposition to the oligarchs and criticising Ukraine’s dependence on the West. Zelenskiy began his presidency by dissolving the Parliament and calling for snap elections. If these turn out in his favour, newly elected MPs would form a pro-presidential majority and fully cement his political dominance.

Although Zelenskiy’s successful election as President seems to have come out of nowhere, his main backer is well established. A major oligarch and billionaire, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, supported Zelenskiy’s campaign by providing both funds and ideas.

For Ukraine’s western backers and financial donors, and in particular for the people of Ukraine, there are already a number of clear signs that the relationship between Kolomoyskyi and Zelenskiy is not as benign as has been suggested. On the contrary, a number of recent decisions clearly demonstrate that Kolomoyskyi is, in an unsubtle way, already consolidating his control over the new President and pushing his agenda.

On day two of his Presidency, Zelenskiy appointed Kolomoyskyi’s private lawyer, Andriy Bohdan, as his Chief of Staff, a vital position for the successful coordination of his political agenda.

Kolomoyskyi is also openly challenging the nationalisation of Privatbank, which he used to own and is today the largest bank in the country. The bank was nationalised in 2016 after it nearly went bankrupt. Considered ‘too big to fail’ the government and the National Bank of Ukraine poured 155 billion UAH (approximately 5 billion euros) of taxpayer money into the bank to prevent its collapse. A Ukrainian court surprisingly ruled in April that the nationalisation was illegal, boosting the chances that Kolomoyskyi could once again win back control of it. The IMF has already warned that reversing the nationalisation of Privatbank would jeopardize Ukraine’s financial aid programme, specifically the 3.9-billion-dollar loan that is expected to be finalised this year.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Kolomoyskyi also advised President Zelenskiy not to cooperate with the IMF and to let Ukraine default on its external debt. Such a scenario would have catastrophic consequences for Ukraine’s slowly recovering economy but could be very beneficial for Kolomoyskyi’s bottom line. This from a man whose business mantra is that “only fools pay invoices and taxes.”

The benefit for Kolomoyskyi for Ukraine defaulting on its IMF obligations is that his mining, metal, and ferrous alloys companies are export driven and receive payments in euros, dollars or pounds. If Ukraine were ever to default on its debt, its currency would plummet and wages, taxes and electricity bills would then be paid for in a devalued national currency while Kolomoyskyi’s profits would be kept in foreign currencies. This would give him a massive domestic advantage as it would allow him to buy cheap Ukrainian assets and drive out competitors from the market, eventually monopolising entire sectors of the economy.

Under Poroshenko, Ukraine started to position itself as an attractive destination for international investors. Any backpedaling on cooperation with the IMF and any halting or delay in the ongoing economic and institutional reform process would have terrible consequences for the country’s investment landscape. An eventual default would lead to inflation, loss of jobs, and the mass emigration of Ukraine’s most skilled workers.

Being an owner of the biggest ferrous alloys plant in Europe, Kolomoyskyi is also interested in controlling the country’s electricity power market. Since his plants consume huge amounts of electricity, he would obviously benefit from keeping electricity prices as low as possible. This directly contradicts Ukraine’s commitment to the EU and international financial institutions to liberalise its energy sector and launch a fully competitive electricity market by 1st July 2019.

The implementation of a competitive energy market is of critical importance for Ukraine’s international obligations and is vital to integrate its energy grid with the rest of the EU and increase cross-border electricity trade. In addition, it would create the conditions for the sector to attract sufficient investment to upgrade the country’s soviet-era energy grid – which has a remaining operating life of about 10 years. It would also improve energy efficiency and move towards a more sustainable energy system that reflects Ukraine’s climate change commitments.

While any postponement of this reform may come under the pretext of the need for ‘minor technical corrections’, there is a strong suspicion that Kolomoyskyi’s intention is to push reform back as far as possible, or ensure it never happens. Not only would this damage Ukraine’s ties with the EU, but it would also send a signal to financial and political partners that the current administration cannot be trusted. In the long run, it may even lead Ukraine to turn its back on the West and rely once again on Russia for its energy needs.

Such an open and public intervention of a private citizen into the political and economic life of a country has not been seen since Boris Berezovsky’s intervention in Russia in the early years of Vladimir Putin. While it remains to be seen how much influence Kolomoyskyi will truly have on Zelenskiy’s political agenda, these early warning signs are not encouraging, to say the least, and should raise very serious concerns both with the international community and domestically in Ukraine.

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Flanked by four colleagues from the party “Junts per Catalunya” Gorka Knorr, Erika Casajoanna, Calara Ponsati and Toni Comin, Puigdemont was upbeat about his chances and thought that the party would win 2 electoral seats.

He said that his party embodied Europe’s democratic values, and that he wanted to bring the voice of the people to the centre of the EU institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. He expressed the importance of the principle of self-determination, and the need to strengthen Europe’s fundamental democratic values through diversity by letting the voice of all the people to be heard.

When asked if he would support an application from Scotland to rejoin the European Union, should today’s Brexit Summit in Brussels not prove successful, Puigdemont replied that of course support from the Catalans for Scotland would be forthcoming, and that Scotland and Catalonia were brothers in support of recognising individual citizens’ rights.

The post Carles Puigdemont announces candidacy in European Parliament Elections appeared first on Brussels Express.