By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Nov. 23: 50 parliamentarians from across the globe have launched a campaign against the candidacy of Hu Binchen, the Deputy Director General of the Chinese Ministry of Public security, for the executive committee of Interpol. The joint statement released by Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) last week said that Hu Binchen’s win would give Beijing the “green light” to continue using Interpol to target activists living in exile.
The international police organization controls a number of databases containing identifying details of people and property, access to which could be misused for political targeting. The position could strengthen China’s use of the Interpol as “a vehicle for the PRC government’s repressive policies”. Signatories spanning 20 countries in the alliance voiced their concern after a letter from 40 activists reached Interpol members that his election would have “grave consequences” for the safety of Chinese, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese, Tibetan and Uyghur activists living outside China.
TYC President Gonpo Dhundup also urged the international community to hold China accountable for their atrocities, and argued that by electing Hu Binchen to the 13-member committee, he will be given unprecedented power “to push forward CCP’s agenda of ‘purging’ its dissidents.” “It is time for the international community to take the responsibility to uphold the values and principles of fairness, transparency and accountability in international and multilateral organizations and stop the slow creep toward authoritarianism of organizations like Interpol, by not voting for the candidate,” he remarked in a statement.
Prominent signatories of the letter include the World Uyghur Congress President Dolkun Isa, who has been subjected to an Interpol Red Notice by the PRC government for two decades; and former Hong Kong legislators Nathan Law and Ted Hui, who are wanted by the Chinese government for violations under the National Security Law.
In 2016, a public security official Meng Hongwei from China was made the Interpol President, but his term ended prematurely as he vanished during a return trip to China two years later. Meng was later jailed for over 13 years on bribery charges amid Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign targeting high officials.
His wife Grace Meng, after years of anonymity, spoke to AFP last week about the Chinese government’s authoritarian force that has ravaged her family. “I have the responsibility to show my face, to tell the world what happened. During the past three years, I learned — just like we know how to live with the COVID — I know how to live with the monster, the (Chinese) authority.”
