In response to international attention on the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang, some European parliamentarians have recently called for the launch of a European Union Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, which would include Chen Quanguo, secretary of the Communist Party Committee of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, in the first sanctions list. The French presidency has also said it wants to carefully verify Beijing‘s commitments to forced labor and human rights.
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The U.S. Secretary of State says China is committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Uighur and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. In the European Parliament, French MEP Raphael Glucksmann urged the European Union to use the European version of the Magnitsky Act to impose sanctions on the Chinese Communist Party. He also announced the name of Chen Guanguo, secretary of the Xinjiang Communist Party Committee, as the first target of EU sanctions.
The EU adopted the European Union Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, known as the European version of the Magnitsky Act, before World Human Rights Day last year. The EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy, known as the European version of the Magnitsky Act, was adopted to target human rights abusers around the world. However, this new sanctions regime will only come into effect when member states agree to it. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, noted at the Time that so far no country had proposed a list of sanctions.
Gluckzmann proposed Chen’s name in the European Parliament. He said, “We have a punishment mechanism for human rights violations, then we should use it. I even have the first name that should be punished – Chen Guoquan, the leader responsible for the repression of the Uighurs. Both the UK and Canada already have punishment mechanisms for the use of Uyghur products in the market, and we should offer the same punishment, what is stopping us from not doing so?”
Dilxat Rax, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, also said, “The Uyghur nation looks to the U.S. and the EU to impose sanctions by applying the Magnitsky Act to all Chinese officials responsible for committing serious human rights violations against the Uyghur nation.”
However, the French president, in his defense of the controversial investment agreement between the EU and China on the 18th, has already stated that it is not the time to talk about what kind of punishment to enact and that Europe has not gone that far. The Elysee Palace believes that the EU has taken relevant measures against China involving Xinjiang, such as requiring companies to implement self-inspection, alerting forced labor, not to participate in China’s Xinjiang policy and other provisions; and not just dialogue, which alone is not enough to move China.
The EU signed an investment agreement with Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping on December 30 last year, while the UK and Canada both announced earlier in the year that they would ban the import of forced labor goods from Xinjiang. The European Parliament, for its part, has accused the EU of sacrificing the fate of the Uighurs for economic gain.
The Elysee Palace pointed out that the EU-China investment agreement cannot solve the problem of human rights in China. The EU-China investment agreement includes human rights as one of the issues, but it does not oblige to solve it. However, if the agreement does not indicate that China will comply with its commitment to ratify international conventions dedicated to the fight against forced labor, then France is determined not to accept such investment agreements.
According to the Elysée Palace, the EU is now moving forward according to a schedule and ensuring that Beijing’s commitment to forced labor and human rights will be “verified very carefully”. In particular, the French presidency of the EU in 2022 will have to submit a report on the progress of the EU-China investment agreement.
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