Portuguese FM hails India as partner, denounces China over Uyghur genocide, Hong Kong law

Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva on Wednesday said he considers China's rise in the global arena as an opportunity but it also comes up with its own set of security challenges. The Portuguese Foreign Minister was speaking in a virtual interaction on 'The Future of India-EU Relations' with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, held by Observer Research Foundation President Samir Saran. The Portuguese Foreign Minister said Portugal considers India more apt as a partner than China due to a range of issues arising due to China.

Augusto Santos Silva called for a united front in dealing with China with regards to the security challenges that China poses to the rest of the world. During the interaction, he mentioned also the human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjian, the imposition of draconian National Security Law in Hong Kong, the aggression in the South China sea.

'China is a security challenge'

Speaking of Portugal's redefined position towards China at NATO Summit this month, Professor Silva said, "We now consider that the rise of China, of course, opens some opportunities but also puts security challenge that we've to address. We are not seeing China as a threat but we see the rise of China as a security challenge. We have to look carefully in it and that too together - The US, the UK and European Union and also our partners in Asia - Japan and India; and also, of course, Australia and New Zealand."

Weighing on the seriousness of the situation on the global front due to China's rise, he said, "We have to look carefully and cautiously because security matters are always tricky issues, but we need to address this new reality."

He further acknowledged that China is a partner of Portugal in some selective areas but also said it prefers India to be its partner instead of China in several other areas. "Our relationship with China is a complex multifaceted one. In certain areas China close to us. In terms of Climate Action, you cannot achieve the global target of the Paris agreement without the engagement and commitment of China and of course India and other large countries."

"However, in a certain way, we are selective partners. In certain sectors, there is cooperation (between China and Portugal), a win-win for both sides in terms of technology, renewable energy, etc. Apart from that, we are competing with China in Latin America, Africa," he added.

He also highlighted that Portugal's trade relations with China are imbalanced and called for a need to re-balance them. This means imports from China is higher than exports to China from Portugal, which has also been the case for India as well as the rest of the countries across the world as China is known to dump huge quantities of manufacturing produce in other countries. China is also found guilty of unfair trade practices like export subsidies which are in contravention to WTO regulations. To counter the Chinese dumping, India imposed anti-dumping duties to reduce the extent of import from China and other countries through which China bypassed its goods to India.

'Our partners in Asia is not China, but India'

The Portuguese Foreign Minister also highlighted the fundamental difference i.e. the lack of democratic ethos in China as compared to the rest of the democratic world, resulting in the incidents of human rights violations in China among various other issues.

"And then we are what we call the systemic rivals. The way we see institutions and political fundamentals. The way you see human rights, the role of civil societies is very different when you speak from point of view of Brussels (where NATO meetings held) vs Beijing. That's why in these crucial areas, our partner in Asia is not China, but India as our perspective on political institutions is very close to Indian democratic position," he said.

"We have certain redlines with China. We cannot be silent when there are violations of human rights in Xinjiang province. We have to denounce it. We cannot accept the squeezing of democratic space in Hong Kong and third is we would not accept any change in the status quo of the South China Sea and the relations with Taiwan," he added.