D66 wants parliamentary investigation into Chinese interference

Coalition party D66 wants a parliamentary investigation into Chinese interference in Dutch society. MPs Jan Paternotte and Sjoerd Sjoerdsma wrote this in an opinion piece on Sunday NRC. They are concerned about the influence of China on Dutch educational institutions, intimidation of Chinese citizens in the Netherlands and economic espionage.

Paternotte and Sjoerdsma fear that China will emerge “stronger than ever” from the current corona crisis as “the old superpower America” ​​has been weakened by the corona outbreak and divisions. It is time, they say, to give the Chinese influence “the attention it deserves.” The MPs are concerned about the power of China and cite as a bad example of this the Chinese treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority, which according to human rights organizations in China is being camped en masse. Beijing denies that is happening.

Also read the opinion piece by Sjoerd Sjoerdsma and Jan Paternotte: Time for a survey of Beijing’s long arm

Paternotte and Sjoerdsma point to Australia, Sweden and England where measures had already been taken against Chinese influence in those countries, such as the closing of educational institutions and Confucius institutions. In the Netherlands, a parliamentary investigation is an investigation carried out by the Senate or the House of Representatives, or a special committee charged with this. An example of this is the Elias Commission, which investigated the failure of government ICT projects.

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