Members of the European Parliament urged a new “strategic analysis” of European-Chinese relations.
Following the EU’s announcement of sanctions against CCP officials and entities, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada followed suit with coordinated actions, announcing sanctions against CCP officials and related entities over human rights issues in Xinjiang.
Immediately following the EU sanctions, the CCP retaliated with punitive measures against the EU, imposing sanctions on 10 European individuals and four European entities, including several European parliamentarians, the EU’s main foreign policy-making body, the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament’s Sub-Committee on Human Rights, and European academics and think tanks. The individuals concerned and their families are banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and they and their affiliates are restricted from doing business with the Chinese Communist Party.
The sanctioned MEPs include Reinhard Butikofer, the German head of the European Parliament Delegation on Relations with China, Michael Gahler, the German chairman of the European Parliament’s Friends of Taiwan Group, Raphaël Glucksmann, a French national, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, a Bulgarian national, and Ilhan Kyuchyuk from Bulgaria and Miriam Lexmann from Slovakia. Also included are members of parliament from the Netherlands and Belgium.
The Netherlands and France summoned the Chinese Communist Party ambassador in protest
Following Beijing‘s announcement of retaliatory sanctions against 10 Europeans, the Netherlands summoned the Chinese Communist Party’s ambassador to The Hague. Meanwhile the European Parliament and the foreign ministers of Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and other member states also strongly opposed the retaliatory actions of the Chinese Communist Party.
The French Foreign Ministry also said on Monday that it would summon the Chinese ambassador on Tuesday, among other reasons, to protest the decision of the Chinese Foreign Ministry to sanction several European nationals, including French member of the European Parliament Glucksmann.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that the European Union on Monday imposed new EU human rights sanctions worldwide, including against the Chinese Communist Party. “The Chinese Communist Party’s (retaliatory) sanctions against (European) parliamentarians and scientific institutions are completely incomprehensible. What should be clear is that the EU is serious about human rights.” Maas said.
Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès responded Monday by saying, “Belgium strongly rejects the sanctions announced by the Chinese (Communist Party) authorities against EU entities, in particular EU parliamentarians (including one Belgian MP), in response to measures taken (by the EU) to defend human rights, which are a central tenet of EU policy. “
Belgium strongly rejects the announcement of the Chinese authorities to sanction EU entities and especially EU MP’s ( Belgium strongly rejects the announcement of the Chinese authorities to sanction EU entities and especially EU MP’s ( including one Belgian MP) in response to measures adopted in defence of human rights, a core tenet of EU policies. We will follow this up with our EU counterparts.
- Sophie Wilmès (@Sophie_Wilmes) March 22, 2021
She also said that Belgium will follow this up with the foreign ministers of other EU member states.
Sanctioned MP: Can’t keep quiet
“I can’t remain silent as long as human rights are violated.” Dutch MEP Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, who is on the Communist Party’s sanctions list, tweeted that the sanctions show the Communist Party is “sensitive” to pressure from outside. He hopes that his European counterparts will be encouraged to speak out as well.
Belgian MP Samuel Cogolati is also on the Communist Party’s sanctions list. Cogolati is currently working on a resolution that would characterize the persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang as genocide.
Responding to the CCP sanctions, Cogolati said Monday, “This will not stop us. As parliamentarians, we have a responsibility to defend human rights and democracy.”
Geller, chairman of the European Parliament’s Friends of Taiwan group, which is on the Communist Party’s sanctions list, tweeted Monday in response to the CCP, “To my regret, this makes dialogue with Chinese [Communist Party] representatives more difficult and onerous. I will not ease up on my advocacy for human rights and democracy.”
Geller believes that the Chinese Communist Party’s sanctions have convinced him that his chairmanship of the European Parliament’s Friends of Taiwan group must have played a role.
MEPs Urge EU to Take Countermeasures Against Communist China
Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People’s Party Group (EPP Group), the largest party group in the European Parliament, tweeted on Monday to express his full support for his European colleagues who have been sanctioned by the Chinese Communist government, “China’s (CCP) attack on freely elected members of parliament shows us Beijing’s contempt for democracy and we will not be intimidated. The EU’s (sanctions) against the CCP have our full support.”
We call on @EP_President and @JosepBorrellF to strongly object to the measures taken by the Chinese government. against Chinese government officials should be prepared as a response. @bueti @gahler_michael @rglucks1 @ilhankyuchyuk @MiriamMLex
- Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) March 22, 2021
“We urge the President of the European Parliament and (the EU’s top diplomat) Josep Borrell to strongly oppose the measures taken by the Chinese (Communist) government. In response, (the EU) should be prepared to take countermeasures against Chinese (Communist) government officials.”
Assita Kanko, a member of the European Parliament, responded on Monday that “the Chinese Communist Party has no respect for the EU. It is Time for a strategic analysis of our relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Kanko added that the Chinese Communist Party is not going to become compliant, “but neither will we.”
Former NATO Secretary General: Democracies urgently need to unite
The Alliance for Democracy Foundation, founded by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is also on the Communist Party’s sanctions list.
“Communist sanctions will not stop our work for freedom and democracy,” Rasmussen said in a statement released Monday in response.
“We will never succumb to the bullying of an authoritarian state.” Rasmussen said, “Our work to promote freedom, democracy and human rights around the world will continue.”
He added that the actions of the Chinese Communist Party demonstrate once again the urgent need for democracies to unite to stem the tide of tyranny in the Western world.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement supporting the European Union’s sanctions against Chinese Communist Party officials for human rights abuses. He said, “Amid growing international condemnation, the Chinese Communist Party continues to commit genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang.”
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