Ireland South MEP Mick Wallace has said reports one million Uighur people are being detained by the Chinese Government are “grossly exaggerated.”
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Wexford politician doubled down on his claim that China looks after its people better than Europe.
He said he doesn’t believe claims that people in China are prevented from voicing their opposition to the Government and insisted there is “frightening” anti-Chinese rhetoric evident in the Irish media.
He was speaking after he told a newspaper well-known for its support of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that the party was doing a “great job serving the interest of its people”.
“From 1990 to 2015, according to the UN, the Chinese Government lifted 750 million people out of poverty,” Mr Wallace told Newstalk Breakfast.
“There was a UN report published recently and it showed that in the rest of the world things are going backwards and, in spite of goals set in 2015, things have actually disimproved in many parts of the world and inequality is rising because of neoliberal policies being implemented.
“Whereas the Chinese because they have state-led development have managed to do this.”
He said he is “not a fan of any Government on the planet” and insisted he would be giving out about the CPC if he was living in China.
When it was pointed out that if he was living in China, he wouldn’t be allowed to give out about the Government, he said: “I don’t agree with that.”
“I don’t agree with an awful lot of the anti-Chinese rhetoric that is taking place at the moment and it is frightening that some Irish newspapers are going down that line as well,” he said.
“If you were in the European Parliament for the last 12 months the anti-Chinese rhetoric that is going on here is absolutely frightening.”