Alliance of Free World Legislators Takes Aim at CCP-led China 

Legislators from eight countries and the European Parliament have launched an international platform to counter what they see as the “greatest challenge to the free world” — namely, China’s behavior under the leadership of its Communist Party. “The group exists to allow parliamentarians who represent the people to make clear to their governments that a more robust response is necessary,” Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) spokesperson Sam Armstrong told VOA in a phone interview from London. The group introduced itself to the world on Thursday with a Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks on screen during a press conference by video conferencing at the end of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on May 28, 2020.On the video, members of the group took turns reading aloud from the statement, which calls for a coordinated and coherent response to China’s behavior in the world.“It is a challenge which touches all of us,” said Michael Brand of the German Bundestag. “What we once believed about China’s rise no longer corresponds to reality,” said Shiori Yamao, a legislator from Japan. “We thought China would open up over time. This hasn’t happened,” said Elisabet Lann of Sweden. John McKay, a member of Canada’s parliament, said, “The world wants and needs China, a country of profound tradition, culture, and industry,” but, according to the group’s mission statement, the government in Beijing has instituted more authoritarian rule at home while “repeatedly and explicitly stat[ing] its intention to expand its global influence.”  Armstrong said the idea of establishing a platform spanning party and national lines began about six weeks before Thursday’s declaration and was prompted by Beijing’s response to the FILE PHOTO: Anti-government demonstrators scuffle with riot police during a lunch time protest as a second reading of a controversial national anthem law takes place in Hong Kong, May 29, 2020.Armstrong said legislators from any other democratic country are welcome to join the group as long as their delegation is chaired by a representative from each of the major parties in that country. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., center, confers with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., as Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., far right, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 9, 2018.The co-chairs of the American delegation to the alliance are Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the most senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio, a Republican, issued a statement stressing the importance of what the group is hoping to achieve. “How we respond to the People’s Republic of China and the Communist Party’s attempt to reshape the globe is the defining foreign policy question of our time,” he said. Menendez said he is looking forward to making “concrete progress on critical issues presented by Beijing, grounded on the respect and promotion of universal human rights.”
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