First Time in 30 years! The ambassadors of EU member states have agreed to impose sanctions on the Chinese government for human rights violations. The sanctions will be implemented as soon as the EU foreign ministers meet on Monday, and China has again threatened to counter them on the 18th.
The ambassadors of EU member states agreed on the 17th to impose sanctions on China for the mass persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang, which will be the first time since the EU imposed an arms embargo on China after the June 4 incident in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
AFP reported that the EU ambassadors agreed to impose sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity, including a travel ban and asset freeze, and that the names of the officials and the entity will wait until they are formally adopted at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on the 22nd.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in response to a reporter’s question on March 18 that if the EU insists on taking “wrong actions that harm China’s interests, China will respond resolutely and accompany it to the end.” Zhao Lijian followed the customary statement of the Chinese Foreign Ministry: “What is the human rights situation in China? The Chinese people have the most right to speak.” Zhao Lijian also said that what the European side should do is to promote the early entry into force of the China-EU investment agreement, not to interfere in China’s internal affairs. Talking and pointing fingers.
Observers point out that more than three decades have passed since the EU ordered an arms embargo on China after the 1989 massacre in Beijing, and now the EU is offering sanctions for the first time over China’s human rights, and although the first step involved only four senior officials, it signifies a clear shift in EU policy toward China.
Since China’s alleged mass crackdown on Uighurs in Xinjiang and the destruction of Hong Kong‘s autonomy, the EU has turned away from its traditional moderate approach and become increasingly open and vocal in its criticism of China. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs then retorted that France has a separation of powers and that it is up to the senators to decide who to visit and who to meet.
On the issue of Xinjiang, there is another important reason for the growing confrontation between the European Union and Beijing, as the EU has repeatedly requested to visit China to study the living conditions of the Uighurs in Xinjiang but failed to do so. Although China has said since 2019 that it has invited UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Barclay and the diplomatic corps to visit Xinjiang, there has been no progress.
According to Brussels sources, a major reason why the EU mission did not go to Xinjiang was because the EU side offered to visit the Uighur economist and professor at China’s Central Academy of Nationalities, Ilham Tohti, who was imprisoned for Life in China and won the EU’s highest human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, during the visit to Xinjiang. Beijing said it could not accept the request.
Recent Comments