Axios - 11 February 2021
Norway’s youth parties call for end to China free trade talks
By Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
The youth wings of Norway’s main political parties have signed a letter calling for the country to rescind its normalization agreement with China and stop free trade negotiations due to China’s human rights violations.
The big picture: Amid growing global awareness that close economic ties with China can have a chilling effect on free speech, opposition to China’s Uyghur genocide is gaining momentum in Norway, where some politicians are fearful of jeopardizing ties with Beijing.
Driving the news: In a letter dated Feb. 9, a coalition of four advocacy groups — the Norwegian Uyghur Committee, Hong Kong Committee in Norway, Norwegian Tibet Committee and the Norwegian Taiwan Friendship Association — enumerate Beijing’s human rights violations in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and Tibet, and accuse the Norwegian government of compromising democratic values in order to negotiate a free trade agreement.
What they’re saying: "When we do not oppose dictatorships, we help to legitimize and strengthen them," the letter states.
Background: China froze diplomatic ties with Norway in 2010, after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
The Feb. 9 letter calls for the end of trade talks and for the 2016 normalization agreement to be canceled, stating that, "With this agreement, Norway renounces the right to criticize the Chinese authorities, and at the same time undermines the freedom of expression of Norwegian civil society."
Go deeper: The scope of forced labor in Xinjiang is bigger than we knew