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PARIS — Buon Tan, a French lawmaker for Emmanuel Macron's party, is facing an extra hurdle as he campaigns for a second term: proving that he isn't Beijing's man in Paris.
The MP of Cambodian heritage has been under fire for joining Beijing-backed associations and for not endorsing parliamentary work condemning China’s human right violations. In an interview with POLITICO, he denied those allegations, denounced a smear campaign against him, and called for more dialogue with Beijing.
"I am attacked, I am slandered," Buon Tan said, sitting in a café in Paris' 13th arrondissement, the multicultural neighbourhood where he grew up and where he is now seeking reelection at the upcoming parliamentary vote in June.
The normally very discrete MP drew attention last year after becoming the only lawmaker in France’s National Assembly to have voted against a parliamentary resolution labeling China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority as a “genocide.”
Buon Tan defended that choice, noting that it is up to international judges, not MPs, to define what a genocide is, a position also echoed by the French government back then. "I know a little bit better than my colleagues how it works," he said, recalling that he moved to France as a child to escape the Cambodian genocide. That resolution "is useless, it doesn't work," he said, adding that "every word has meaning. If you put genocide everywhere, it doesn't mean anything anymore and, frankly, I think it isn't respectful to those who really suffered."
But Buon Tan is also fielding criticism for his activities in Beijing-linked organizations.
His name notably appears in the list of executives of the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA,) an organization directly connected with China's communist party as it is controlled by the United Front Work Department, an organ of the party's central committee. Buon Tan denied being a member of COFA and said he learned of his own membership status with the outfit when reading a study by think tank Sinopsis that details his alleged links with the Chinese Communist Party's networks. "I discovered, just like you, that there was my name there," he said. "Either I was registered without my knowledge, or it was someone with my name or my surname, I don't know, but in any case it was not me, that's for sure."
Buon Tan also attended several United Front events, including the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in 2013.
Macron’s choice to confirm Buon Tan’s candidacy has been questioned by China experts and drawn criticism from the opposition in France.
“It’s a real problem,” said Antoine Bondaz, a China expert at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "When a person has such access to everything that is done [by French institutions] on China, and at the same time has roles in associations close to the department of the United Front, it raises questions." Alex Joske, the co-author of the Sinopsis study, also warned against what he called a "conflict of interest."
Socialist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann also slammed Macron’s choice, calling Buon Tan “an agent of the Chinese regime.”
In addition to being the chair of the National Assembly’s Franco-Chinese friendship group and a secretary of the foreign affairs committee, Buon Tan was involved in the drafting of key parliamentary work on China.
He was one of the two co-authors of a parliamentary report about France's and Europe’s policy towards China. Beijing’s alleged human rights violations are briefly mentioned in the report but they are not directly addressed in any of the 48 recommendations to the government, which mostly focused on economy.
“Most of his assessments and conclusions – which it seems the co-rapporteur did not share – were quite appalling and absolutely pro-Chinese regime, obviously," said Frédérique Dumas, a centrist MP from the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee, while conceding that “the report was not uninteresting from the point of view of a better knowledge of China.”
According to Dumas, who was previously a member of Macron's party but has since exited the formation, “the candidacy of Buon Tan is obviously a political signal sent to the Chinese government” and hints at what she describes as the Elysée's soft approach on China.
Buon Tan supports resuming talks on the EU-China investment deal, which was signed at the end of 2020 but not ratified and was instead placed on hold last year due to diplomatic tensions between Brussels and Beijing. "It's a pity that we're caving to pressure, saying we shouldn't sign this treaty, especially by our American friends, when they have practiced the same thing," he said, referring to existing U.S.-China agreements. France should be "allied, not aligned ... on the strategy of the U.S. which is to block, and attack, and destroy China," he added.
Macron’s bet
Macron's decision to give Buon Tan a second chance, ignoring concerns over his alleged Chinese connections, is mainly to do with electoral reasons. The freshly re-elected president greenlit his parliamentary candidates one by one, someone involved in the selection process told POLITICO’s Paris Playbook.
The MP is running again as representative of Paris’ 13th arrondissement, a neighbourhood with a significant Chinese diaspora.
The battle for his re-election will be tough as he’s facing Sandrine Rousseau of the Greens, a high-profile candidate, in a constituency which preferred left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon to Macron in the first round of April’s presidential election. Buon Tan accused her of being a "parachuted" candidate who has little connection with the locals.
For the time being Rousseau — who is running as the candidate of the left-wing coalition led by Mélenchon — isn't highlighting Buon Tan's Chinese connection on the campaign trail. "This question should be addressed to Emmanuel Macron," Rousseau said, while noting that MPs should defend French interests on the international stage. "It is up to the citizens to decide."
Stuart Lau contributed reporting.
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