Dispute with the EU: China imposes sanctions on EU politicians

China has imposed sanctions on several EU politicians, including the green politician Bütikofer. The EU had previously issued sanctions for China’s actions against the Uighurs.

China has imposed sanctions on ten Europeans and four EU institutions in response to the EU sanctions. Affected by the Chinese sanctions are two German MEPs: Green Party politician Reinhard Bütikofer and Michael Gahler from the CDU. Sanctions were also issued against the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin. The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced.

The ten politicians and scientists and the four EU organizations “would seriously damage China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and disinformation.” Named persons and their family members are prohibited from entering China and Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Areas. Also, related companies and organizations cannot do business with China.

The European Union should refrain from “teaching others about human rights” and interfering in China’s “internal affairs”, the ministry said.

“At the same time shameless and ridiculous”

A spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Ministry said the federal government had taken note of China’s reaction. Bütikofer told AFP news agency: “China’s growing reaction to the human rights sanctions imposed by the EU is both blatant and ridiculous.”

China manages to turn the four most important groups in the European Parliament against itself with a single action. “Beijing cannot seriously believe that it is doing itself a favor,” he said.

Previous EU sanctions

The EU had previously imposed sanctions on China for the first time in three decades for its actions against the Uighur Muslim minority. The foreign ministers of the 27 member states decided in Brussels to take punitive measures against those responsible for the repression of the Uighur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region. According to the AFP news agency, four regional and party representatives and one organization were included on the sanctions list.

The sanctions establish that all the assets of the interested natural or legal persons are frozen. In addition, they will not be able to have more money or economic resources. They are now also banned from entering the EU. The names of those affected will be published shortly in the Official Journal of the EU.

The EU’s Chinese ambassador, Zhang Ming, recently harshly criticized those EU plans. “The sanctions are confrontational,” he said. Your country wants dialogue, but will not back down if others insist on confrontation.

China rejects the accusations

Human rights groups estimate that hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs, Hui and members of other minorities have been sent to re-education camps in Xinjiang. Germany has long been critical of China’s dealings with the Uighurs. China, however, rejects the accusations and talks about training centers.

The EU last imposed punitive measures against China for human rights violations after the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing in 1989. They include, among other things, an arms embargo that still applies today.

Sanctions also for the military coup in Myanmar

The EU also imposed sanctions in connection with the military coup in Myanmar. They affect eleven people responsible for the coup and violence against the protesters. Myanmar’s army chief is also on the sanctions list.

In the Southeast Asian state, former Burma, the army struck Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in early February. In the protests against the military junta, many people died again last weekend. About seven weeks after the coup, the death toll rose to at least 247, the prisoner aid organization AAPP announced on Twitter. The actual number is likely to be much higher.

“The excess of violence that we see there is absolutely unacceptable,” said Federal Chancellor Heiko Maas in Brussels. The number of murders had “reached an unbearable level”. Sanctions will now be used to target those responsible.