European Union (EU) ambassadors agreed on Wednesday to impose sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged human rights violations against the Chinese Uighur population, several news outlets reported.
Two diplomats told Reuters that the ambassadors supported travel bans and the freezing of assets for four people and one entity.
The names of the people and entity to be sanctioned will not be published until the EU finally approves a list of sanctions against people and entities in six countries, several diplomats told Politico. The EU is scheduled to consider the sanctions package on March 22.
“Restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses,” an EU diplomat told Reuters.
The movement against China comes as the country faces control over the treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority. Experts say at least 1 million are being held in the Xinjiang region. The Netherlands, Canada and the United States have denounced China’s behavior as genocide.
But China rejects the label and has repeatedly denied allegations of ill-treatment of the population, arguing that detention camps are being used to combat religious extremism.
The Chinese mission in the EU responded to the reports by redistributing Tuesday’s comments from its EU ambassador, Zhang Ming, calling on the bloc to reconsider.
“The sanctions are confrontational,” the Chinese mission said on Twitter. “We want dialogue, not confrontation. We ask the EU to think twice. If some insist on confrontation, we will not back down, because we have no choice but to fulfill our responsibilities to people. ”