The European Union (EU) will take major action to sanction the Chinese Communist Party and Myanmar for human rights issues. EU officials announced today (22), because the Chinese Communist Party violated the human rights of Xinjiang Uighurs, will be four Chinese officials an entity (ENTITY) sanctions, the implementation of a travel ban and freeze assets, also decided to sanction 11 people involved in the February 1 military mutiny in Myanmar.
The EU’s sanctions against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are the first entity sanctions imposed against the CCP since the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, when an “arms embargo” was imposed on China. China is currently the EU’s second largest trading partner, but the EU is still at loggerheads with the Chinese Communist Party over human rights issues. The four Chinese officials sanctioned by the EU are Zhu Hailun, former Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee; Wang Mingshan, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Wang Junzheng, Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and Chairman of China Xinjian Group Corporation; and Chen Mingguo, Director of the Public Security Bureau of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, while the entity sanctioned is the Public Security Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also said at the EU Foreign Ministers’ meeting that “we will impose sanctions on 11 people involved in the coup and crackdown on protesters in Myanmar. The reason is that the situation in Myanmar is deteriorating.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas further pointed out that the EU’s sanctions against Burma would target “violent street actors” and not punish the Burmese people. The number of murders in Burma has reached unbearable levels, which is why we are inevitably imposing sanctions on Burma,” Maas said.
While the EU has already imposed an arms embargo on Myanmar and has targeted some of its top officials since 2019, this sanction will be the most significant EU response since the Myanmar coup.
Not only China and Myanmar were sanctioned, but the EU foreign ministers meeting also targeted Russia, North Korea, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Libya with sanctions against more than 10 individuals for human rights violations.
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