The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada on Monday sanctioned Chinese officials for repressing the Uyghur minority, a move that provoked an immediate reaction from Beijing, which in turn sanctioned European legislators and academics.
The EU began this wave of coordinated restrictive measures in the morning, increasing pressure on Beijing, by publishing in the Official Gazette of the names of four officials from China’s autonomous region of Xinjiang, which it sanctioned.
The sanctions adopted by foreign ministers from the 27 European countries, met in Brussels, are the first that the bloc has adopted against Chinese officials since the 1989 bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
The Chinese government immediately released a list of 10 European citizens, which includes parliamentarians and four sanctioned entities, in retaliation for “serious interference” in EU internal affairs, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
A few hours later, the governments of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom announced measures similar to those of Europe to repress this Muslim minority.
Angry reaction
“This gesture, based on nothing more than lies and misinformation, throws and distorts the facts,” in addition to affecting the EU-China relationship, the foreign ministry said.
EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said China’s announced reciprocity measures were “unacceptable” and reiterated the bloc’s determination to defend human rights.
“Instead of changing its policies and responding to our legitimate concerns, China has once again looked the other way,” he said.
The EU has sanctioned former Xinjiang Political and Legal Affairs Committee Secretary Zhu Hailun and three other officials from the same autonomous region.
Brussels also included the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary group in the Uyghur region, on the sanctions list.
Instead, the list of those sanctioned by China includes five MEPs – Frenchman Raphael Glucksmann, Germans Reinhard Butikofer and Michael Gahler, Bulgarian Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Slovakian Miriam Lexmann – in addition to German academician Adrian Zenz, among others.
The Dutch government has summoned the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands for Chinese sanctions against his deputy Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, as the Chinese decision “is a totally unjustified response”, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
France, for its part, considered the sanctions in Beijing “unacceptable”, as well as the statements made by the Chinese embassy to a French researcher and legislators. Paris has announced that it will call on the ambassador to communicate.
Coordinated action
The United States has announced sanctions against two of the officials who have also been included in the EU list.
The British government has announced sanctions against four Chinese Communist Party officials in the Xinjiang region and the Public Security Bureau.
British Chancellor Dominic Raab said China was guilty of forced sterilization of Uyghur women, large-scale surveillance of the Muslim minority and “the largest mass detention of an ethnic or religious group since World War II.”
Canada has sanctioned four officials and one entity “for their participation in clear and systematic violations” of Xinjiang’s rights.
For the EU, the sharp escalation of tensions is taking place at a delicate time, as both sides have recently reached an agreement on investment protection that has been carefully negotiated over seven years.
The agreement should still be ratified by the European Parliament, but with the inclusion of five MEPs on China’s sanctions list, the fate of the treaty is everyone’s assumption.
Other sanctions announced by the EU on Monday include General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Burma’s military junta, “for sabotaging democracy and the rule of law” in the Asian country.
Two officials from the Russian region of Chechnya were also sanctioned.
European foreign ministers also discussed the state of relations with Turkey, an issue that will also be discussed this week by bloc leaders at a distant summit.