Chair's statement of 23 March 2021 on EU sanctions on human rights violations; Counter-sanctions by the PRC

EU sanctions to four Chinese individuals and a Chinese entity on human rights violations; Counter-sanctions by the PRC

Statement by the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China

Chair of the Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China Reinhard Bütikofer (The Greens/EFA, DE) issued the following statement today:

"As the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China. I do welcome the decision by the EU Foreign Ministers to impose sanctions on four Chinese individuals and one Chinese entity because of the atrocious human rights violations for which they are responsible. These sanctions target ZHU Hailun 朱海仑, former Deputy Head of the 13th People's Congress of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), WANG Junzheng 王君正, Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and CEO of the China Xinjian Group, WANG Mingshan 王明山, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, CHEN Mingguo 陈明国, Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (XPSB) and Vice- Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region People's Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau 新疆生产建设兵团公安局, also known as bingtuan, which runs the detention centres in Xinjiang and which is responsible for serious human rights violations including the large-scale arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment of Uyghurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities. This is an example of what the EU's global human rights sanctions mechanism was made for.

The People's Republic of China has retaliated with counter-sanctions. While the EU sanctions human rights violations, the PRC sanctions the criticisms of human rights violations. Chinese leaders seem to be of the opinion that they should export the oppression of free speech, which they have enforced in their own country. The Chinese sanctions do not only target ten individuals of which five are members of the four biggest democratic groups in the European Parliament and three members of national parliaments, they have also targeted the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Political and Security Committee of the Council as well as researchers and think-tanks. The sanctions include also myself as the Chair of this China Delegation.

This Delegation has endeavored to uphold and develop exchanges and contacts with the Chinese side, notwithstanding deep differences and mutual criticism. However, by sanctioning the Delegation Chair, the Chinese authorities seemed to be signaling that they do not have the intention to pursue any form of cooperation. It is obvious that the Delegation cannot go back to normal in its work unless the Chinese sanctions are lifted, which we demand."