[Opinion] Europe’s China Strategy Is Ready for a Refresh

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https://thediplomat.com/2026/07/europes-china-strategy-is-ready-for-a-refresh/

EU leaders have an opportunity to stop treating repression as a side issue and instead make human rights more central to their engagement with China.

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*Opinion piece by Hélène de Rengervé, a senior advocate on corporate accountability at Human Rights Watch; and Maya Wang, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. *

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The truth is that China’s economy and industry are intertwined with the Chinese government’s human rights abuses. State-imposed forced labor, forced labor transfers of Uyghur workers, the prohibition on independent unions, forced land seizures or coerced relocations have all featured in industries key to China’s relationship with Europe, from electric battery production, to solar and renewable energy supply chains, to technology.

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Meanwhile, vague criminal offenses, mass surveillance, and pervasive repression allow Chinese authorities not only to silence critics, but also to reshape communities and entire industries with little resistance.

European governments have, in effect, turned a blind eye to these human rights violations as some of Europe’s most important industries sought access to Chinese markets and Chinese suppliers. These include strategic sectors such as automotive or critical raw materials needed for electronic products and batteries.

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The Chinese government’s human rights abuses should not be isolated from Europe’s interests. EU leaders have an opportunity to stop treating repression as a side issue and instead make human rights more central to their engagement with China. They should work jointly to harmonize their policies, so that together, they can resist the Chinese government’s retaliation and foster a more human-rights aligned trade ecosystem.

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China’s loans come with a lot of “strings attached” if you want to put it that way. Amongst others, one report, How China Collaterizes: New Report Reveals Hidden Structures in Global Lending (pdf), sheds light on the secured lending practices of Chinese creditors in low- and middle-income countries and shows how Chinese creditors secure priority access to cash flows and liquid assets far beyond the IMF or World Bank has ever done, as the report says,

China’s investments/loans are just that, loans, an imperfect thing to do in a capitalist world. I would also prefer if those investments were applied differently, but they are very much no-strings-attached compared to IMF loans.

IMF literally mandates that countries adopt extreme austerity measures and destroy their safety nets, so that imperialists have an easier time hyperexploiting the workers there.

China severely limited double-use exports back in 2023/2024.

This is false.

This is true. They don’t call it sanctions but they did actually stop selling drone parts for example.

Here is a brief list of sanctions involving Israel. As you will see, all the sanctions imposed are by the EU, European countries, the U.S., U.K., Australia, Japan, and other democratically governed states. None from China.

The sanctions list doesn’t mean shit. Look at the weapons used to murder children en masse and ethnically cleanse entire cities in Palestine. All of them come from those “democratically governed states”, a lot of them for free.

Look at the diplomatic and propaganda cover they are running for Israel. What Merz is saying about “Netanyahu doing the dirty work for us”. What happens to anti-genocide protesters in Germany. How the western media tried to hide the genocide being livestreamed on TikTok for two years.

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OP

Chinese loans come at much worse conditions compared to IMF loans. This is clear by many independent investigation. I provided two of them.

You cant’t provide any proof for you claims as they are wrong. China and Israel are close allies, the ties have been becoming stronger in recent years.

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Chinese loans come at much worse conditions compared to IMF loans

They are at “worse conditions” in the sense of percentages and collateral requirements compared to IMF loans, however they do not force the debtor country to adopt economic and political changes suicidal to them in the long term.

This is clear by many independent investigation

“Independent investigation”

Looks inside

Capitalist propaganda

China and Israel are close allies, the ties have been becoming stronger in recent years.

Compared to Germany, France or Italy for example? That’s an insane claim to make. China just trades with everyone, Israel included, they are not an ally in any meaningful sense.

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OP

They are at “worse conditions” in the sense of percentages and collateral requirements compared to IMF loans, however they do not force the target country to adopt economic and political changes suicidal to them in the long term.

Read the reports, or at least the summaries. Chinese loans come with a lot (more) string attached than anything from the West.

You are never providing any source for what you say. You are just parroting pro-China talking points likely learned in the ml comms. This is complete waste of time.

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Chinese loans come with a lot (more) string attached than anything from the West.

Really? Which Chinese loans force countries to adopt strict austerity measures including gutting universal healthcare? The “strings attached” to Chinese loans are mostly (1) have liquid collateral, (2) pay it back, (3) we’ll forgive you part of it if you can’t. It is still beneficial to China because it boosts their trade partners and therefore their economy indirectly.

“Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.”

You are parroting pro-imperialist propaganda without stopping to examine the world around you for a moment.

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