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While the world’s eyes are elsewhere, a wave of oppression is engulfing China’s activists – is the time for EU dialogue over? On Thursday MEPs will hold an emergency debate on the arrest of Ai Weiwei , the brilliant Chinese artist and political activist, as well as other victims of Beijing’s new crackdown. His is the highest-profile case since Liu Xiabao was sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion – and won the 2010 Nobel peace prize for his leading role in the Charter 08 movement. With the world’s attention on the uprisings in the Middle East, Chinese authorities are reacting to the widespread rumblings since mid-February, when a “jasmine revolution” was called across China, and a few brave souls dared to express their protest. Ai, who is best known for creating the sunflower seed installation in London’s Tate Modern and his work on Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium , is the highest-profile victim in the heavy-handed suppression of political dissidents by Chinese officials. The Beijing regime has detained or arrested dozens of human rights activists from lawyers to bloggers in what appears to be a pre-emptive strike against what they “might” do. The process resembles the pre-Olympic Games crackdown in 2008 . The police are again regularly putting activists and their families under house arrest, depriving them of their rights without any hint of due process. In the past few days four veteran activists – Liu Xianbin , Ran Yunfei , Ding Mao and Chen Wei – were all formally charged with inciting subversion of state power. Instead of the routine three-year sentences, 10 years is now normal. China’s treatment of dissidents is no longer a hidden process. There are increasing accounts of torture and abuse such as the case of the Christian human rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng . Gao was sentenced for subversion after he wrote open letters to the European parliament and then to the US Congress calling for reform. His torture has been so severe that he has twice tried to kill himself. I know that when he came to, he was surrounded by medics. The intention of the authorities was to give him a “living death”. After briefly resurfacing, he has now been missing for a year. Between 7 and 8 million Chinese are held in prisons or camps, many suffering torture or enduring forced labour. More suffer the death penalty each year – about 5,000 – than the rest of the world put together. I met Ai last October at the preview of his Tate Modern exhibition. When I asked him to record some remarks about the future of the Beijing regime he said: “It’s come to a point where everyone in society understands that China cannot continue in the same way. The game is over.” An outspoken critic of the government, he called Gao’s disappearance “impossible” in a civilised society. His activism after the Sichuan earthquake earned him respect across China – and the free world. China has been a “strategic partner” of the EU since the mid-90s, when I wrote a report for the European parliament calling for increased trade, but also for a human rights dialogue. My watchword was “not just business as usual, but also politics as usual”. In the 14 years of the dialogue’s existence it has yielded no tangible results and it provides a fig leaf for the most arbitrary, brutal and murderous regime in world history. The UN human rights council is now supposed to be a reformed process. When I last went to Geneva, Libya was in the chair. Now Libya has rightly been suspended: by any normal standards China too should be expelled. As the Nobel peace prize was awarded to Liu Xiabao’s empty chair last December, the audience of diplomats, civil servants, politicians and NGOs rose spontaneously in a prolonged standing ovation. There was a palpable sense of solidarity with Liu’s work and grief at our inability to help him. Ai was prevented by Beijing from attending. But he will be part of China’s political future, as will Liu, Gao and the hundreds of reformists across China. The Arab Spring is spreading: China will change too. In the runup to the EU-China human rights dialogue at the end of May – which Beijing, angry that the 2010 Nobel peace prize was awarded to Liu – cancelled last December – the EU should press the Chinese authorities to end the disappearances, release political prisoners and begin the political “reforms” hinted at recently by Wen Jiabao, China’s premier. If there is no response, the EU should suspend the dialogue. China Ai Weiwei European Union Europe Human rights Edward McMillan-Scott guardian.co.uk