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China has blacklisted ten EU members and four entities in response to Brussels sanctions against Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses by the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region, BNR reported.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry noted that Bulgarian MEP Ilhan Küçük, together with Reinhard Büttikofer, Michael Galler and Rafael Glucksmann, are among MEPs who “seriously harm China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and misinformation.”
Previously, the EU accused Chinese officials of mass arrests of Uighur Muslims and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and imposed its first sanctions on Beijing since the 1989 arms embargo, which resulted from the crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
“For me, China’s decision is not unexpected,” Ilhan Kyuchyuk told Horizont. He linked his inclusion on the sanctions list to his work on Uighur rights and the nomination of political prisoner Ilham Tokhti for the Sakharov Prize.
The others sanctioned by China include Dutch politician Söyer Wiemer Scheerdsma, Belgian MP Samuel Kogolati, Lithuanian MP Dovile Sakaliene and two scientists, Adrian Zenz from Germany and Bjorn Jörden from Sweden.
“People affected by the sanctions and their families are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. “They and the companies and institutions associated with them are also prohibited from doing business with China.”
The sanctioned entities are the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union; The Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament; The Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies in Germany and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in Denmark.
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