BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union agreed on Wednesday to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights violations, two diplomats said, the first sanctions against Beijing since the EU arms embargo in 1989 after the repression of Tiananmen Square.
EU ambassadors approved travel bans and the freezing of assets for four Chinese people and an entity, whose names will not be made public until the formal approval of EU foreign ministers on 22 March, as part of a new and broader list of rights sanctions.
Although the sanctions are mostly symbolic, the adoption marks a significant tightening of EU policy towards China, which Brussels has long regarded as a benign trading partner but now considers a systematic abuser of human rights. and basic freedoms.
The 1989 EU arms embargo against China, its second largest trading partner, is still in place.
“Restrictive measures have been taken against serious human rights violations and abuses,” an EU diplomat said.
Chinese officials have been accused of human rights abuses against China’s Uighur Muslim minority, EU diplomats told Reuters. They said the movement reflected a deep concern for Uighurs in Europe, the United States and Canada.
UN activists and rights experts say at least one million Muslims are being held in camps in the remote western region of Xinjiang. Activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor and sterilization.
The Dutch parliament followed Canada and the United States in labeling China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide, which China rejects.
On Twitter, the Chinese mission to the EU re-posted comments on the new sanctions made on Tuesday by China’s ambassador to the bloc, Zhang Ming, saying Beijing would not change its policies.
“The sanctions are confrontational,” the Chinese mission said on Twitter. “We want dialogue, not confrontation. We ask the EU to think twice. If some insist on confrontation, we will not back down, as we have no choice but to fulfill our responsibilities to the people. “
China denies any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps offer vocational training and are needed to combat extremism. Beijing has repeatedly invited EU ambassadors to Xinjiang, but envoys say they cannot visit them under the strict conditions and surveillance set by Chinese authorities.
The EU has also called for the release of imprisoned ethnic Uyghur economics professor Ilham Tohti, who was imprisoned for life in 2014. He received the European Parliament’s human rights award in 2019.
The full list of EU sanctions of 11 names approved by EU ambassadors also includes officials from Russia, Libya, South Sudan and North Korea, diplomats said.
Reports by Robin Emmott; Edited by Alex Richardson and Hugh Lawson