Thread by @benedictrogers

THREAD: I want to say some things about China, Chinese people, the brutal, mendacious Chinese Communist Party regime, & what we should do about it all.

I am conscious that I tweet a lot. But bear with me and follow this thread if you have time.

First: I love China & its people

Second, I first went to China aged 18

I began my exploration of the world by teaching English in Qingdao

I studied a Masters in China Studies at @SOAS

I lived in #HongKong for the first 5 years after the handover

I began my adult life in China

ucanews.com/news/a-love-af…

Third, for the first 3 decades of my adult life, I went in & out of China regularly - I have lost count, but I have probably visited China more than 50 times

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Qingdao, Dali, Guilin, Yangshuo are places I love :)

Fourth: SO the current deterioration in relations between the free world & China breaks my heart,

BUT I want to emphasise something critical

It's not a Cold War between the West & China

It's a Cold War - a battle of ideas - between freedom & repression, between truth and lies

Fifth: and if it is a Cold War, it is not one the free world started. It's one the Chinese Communist Party started and the free world - very belatedly - woke up to and has finally responded to.

Sixth: And it's one which EVERY freedom-loving person, wherever they are and whatever persuasion they come from, should join

If we treasure our freedoms, we need to wake up

Because this battle is knocking at our front door

and at mine literally - from the CCP 👇

Seventh: So - what do we do?

The UK's proposals on BNOs and the decision on Huawei, and the US sanctions, are a very good start.

But here's a 10-step plan:

1. We unite. The free world needs to get together and co-ordinate. An international contact group would be a start

2. We reduce strategic dependency. Diversify supply chains. Stand up to CCP regime's threats, stop kowtowing, stop exaggerating benefits of China business, stop being terrified of consequences, start working together. If China won't buy Aussie wine, we Brits will for a start!

3. We do the easy, no-brainer things now - like end extradition agreements with #HongKong, strip Carrie Lam of her ridiculous @WolfsonCam honour and get @KingsCollegeLon to strip Teresa Cheng of hers ... small, easily deliverable, no hardship steps that send a clear message :)

4. We do the harder stuff. Targeted sanctions. Not sanctions that hurt Chinese or Hong Kong people. Not at all. But sanction individuals and entities complicit with or involved in serious violations of human rights and breaches of international treaties

5. We pursue the diplomatic route too - by pressing the UN to appoint an envoy or a rapporteur - and there is momentum behind this: hongkongwatch.org/all-posts/2020…

6. We prepare a relief package - for those who need to flee. BNOs is a very good start. But so many young activists at grave risk are not BNOs. So we need a lifeboat scheme: hongkongwatch.org/international-…

7. Alongside that, we add in details. Bursaries and scholarships for people from #HongKong to study. A pathway to citizenship. Background checks. Monitoring of our universities. Protection of our academic freedom.

8. Pressure on businesses to re-think their position on Hong Kong's national security law and modern slavery for the Uyghurs.

9. No Beijing Olympics 2022 @StopBeijing2022

10. Study the China Tribunal's judgment on forced organ harvesting - chinatribunal.com - and act on its finding

Remember it found that the CCP regime is a "criminal state"

Within this thread & beyond, there's a body of ideas

We can stand up to the Chinese Communist Party regime - for #HongKong, for #Uyghurs, for #Tibet, for #FalunGong and for ourselves and our own freedoms.

It is time we did so.

It's time to form a new United Front - for freedom

And remember. I will never be anti-China. I'll always be pro-freedom.