EU, China impose tit-for-tat sanctions over Xinjiang
The European Union imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials on Monday (March 22) for human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
It's the bloc's first sanctions against Beijing since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy crackdown, which is still in place.
Those targeted with these sanctions include Chen Mingguo, the director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau.
In its Official Journal, the EU accused Chen of "arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uighurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities, as well as systematic violations of their freedom of religion or belief."
China blacklisted 10 EU individuals and four entities on Monday in response to the sanctions.
Saying that they were among those who "severely harm China's sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and disinformation".
Activists and U.N. rights experts say at least 1 million Muslims are being detained in camps in the remote western region of Xinjiang.
The activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor, and sterilizations.
China denies any human rights abuses and says the camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.
The sanctions are mainly symbolic, but they mark a significant hardening in the EU's policy towards China.
China is the EU's second-largest trading partner after the United States. Brussels has long regarded it as a benign trading partner.
But now views it as a systematic abuser of basic rights and freedoms and is deeply worried about the fate of the Uighurs.
Britain, Canada, and the United States have also expressed serious concerns.
