Much-needed revelation! China trying to control bodies like WHO and Interpol, says UK parliament panel

New Delhi, June 17: Bringing a much-needed revelation about China controlling behavior on a global platform, a report published by the UK House of Commons foreign affairs committee has stated that autocratic nations like China are seeking to manipulate, undermine, or even break up multilateral organizations, such as the WHO and Interpol.

 

The committee comprising of 11 MPs warned that if the UK and its allies do not respond to the corrosive influence of states including China, there is a very real risk that democratic states will lose multilateral organizations to authoritarian states.

 

The report said that countries like China have done little to demonstrate that they wish to uphold the values that these organisations represent. Notably, multilateral organisations like the World Trade Organisation, Interpol, the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were set up to establish an international system based on shared values of peace, prosperity and freedom.

 

"China poses one of the biggest threats to the understanding of individual rights upon which the modern international system is based, yet we recognise that engagement with China through multilateral forums is important for progress on many issues of international concern, including the environment and global health," it said.

 

Further, it added, "If the UK and its allies do not respond to the corrosive influence of states, including China and Russia and other enabling states,34 there is a very real risk that democratic states will lose multilateral organizations to authoritarian states who have done little to demonstrate that they wish to uphold the values these organizations represent."

 

 

The UK committee report found that China has been increasingly using aggressive methods including bilateral economic leverage, to coerce states in multilateral organisations to back its position. In the wake of these developments, the report recommended that the UK should work with a coalition of like-minded states to publicly call out such attempts undermining the present system.