US, EU, UK and Canada sanction Chinese officials for human rights violations

Chinese regime officials were sanctioned on Monday by the governments of the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada, for the repression of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, where they are forcibly subjected to concentration camps.

The Joe Bien government based its decision on “serious violations of the human rights of ethnic minorities”In said Chinese region and sanctioned Wang junzheng, secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, already Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. “Chinese authorities will continue to bear the brunt of Xinjiang atrocitiesSaid Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury.

It was a joint action by four strong allies in the international community. A few hours ago, the EU announced that four Chinese officials were sanctioned for Brussels (including the former secretary of the Xinjiang Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Zhu Hailun).

And shortly after Washington’s announcement, the UK and Canada have also communicated action against regime members.

The US measure freezes all assets of those sanctioned on North American soil and also prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

China denies the existence of detention camps for Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, considering them to be re-education and vocational training camps for people steeped in jihadist ideology. Beijing also denies that human rights violations are committed there.

Xinjiang was previously a hotbed of subversion against the Chinese government, but Beijing now says its security measures have calmed the region.

A few days ago, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held his first bilateral meeting with China and greeted foreign ministers in Alaska with an offensive speech, accusing Xi Jinping’s regime, in front of the cameras around the world., From “threatens global stability.”

Angry reaction

As soon as the EU announced it, China published a list of 10 sanctioned EU citizens, which includes parliamentarians, and four entities subject to sanctions.. In a statement, the Chinese foreign ministry noted that the European sanctions constituted “flagrant interference” in its internal affairs. “This move, based on nothing more than lies and disinformation, spreads and distorts the facts” in addition to affecting relations between the EU and China, the foreign ministry said.

In contrast, the list of those sanctioned by China includes five MEPs – Frenchman Raphael Glucksmann, Germans Reinhard Butikofer and Michael Gahler, Bulgarian Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Slovakian Miriam Lexmann – in addition to German academic Adrian Zenz, among others. . “I’m not surprised … given my role in exposing the scale of human rights violations in Xinjiang,” Zenz told AFP.

The Dutch government has summoned the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands for the Chinese sanctions against his deputy Sjoerd Sjoerdsma.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said: “These measures are regrettable and unacceptable. There will be no change in the EU’s determination to defend human rights and respond to serious violations and abuses ”.

(With information from AFP and AP)

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