The government in Beijing has now imposed sanctions on British lawmakers and organizations. Those affected had spread “malicious lies and misinformation” about China’s handling of the Uyghurs.
President Xi Jinping at a session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. (8 September 2020)
Photo: Nicolas Asfoury (Getty Images)
In the dispute over Western sanctions against China Because of the persecution of the Uyghurs Beijing has now imposed counter-sanctions on British politicians and organizations. Nine individuals and four organizations had spread “malicious lies and misinformation” about the Chinese way of dealing with the Uyghurs, and the Foreign Ministry justified the move in Beijing on Friday. The government in London condemned these measures.
The British Foreign Office said the UK had imposed “unilaterally” sanctions against “relevant” Chinese individuals and organizations over so-called human rights issues in Xinjiang. The British actions led to a “serious” weakening of the mutual relations. Great Britain should not follow this “wrong path” anymore.
Critics must be “silenced”
Those affected by the sanctions include former Conservative Party Chairman Ian Duncan Smith and Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Togendat. Four organizations campaigning for human rights have been punished in Xinjiang Province, north China.
The Punished will no longer be allowed to enter mainland China or special administrative regions in Hong Kong and Macau, and their assets there will be frozen. Chinese citizens and enterprises are prohibited from cooperating with them.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab accused Beijing of trying to “silence” critics of Chinese human rights violations at home and abroad. “As the UK joins the international community in imposing sanctions for human rights violations, the Chinese government is punishing its critics,” he wrote on Twitter. He called on the Chinese authorities to allow the United Nations to enter Xinjiang.
China’s anger a “badge of honor”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also stood behind those affected by the sanctions. “Members of Parliament and other British citizens who have been sanctioned by China are playing a vital role in highlighting the gross human rights violations against Uighur Muslims,” he wrote on Twitter.
Duncan Smith called it the “duty” of the Chinese government to call “human rights violations” in Hong Kong and the “genocide of the Uyghurs.” “We, who live a free life under the rule of law, must speak on behalf of those who have no choice.” Duncan Smith said in a tweet on Twitter that he saw China’s ire over his commitment to a “badge of honor.”
“We cannot do our daily work without China imposing sanctions on us.”
Conservative MP Nasrat Ghani, who has also been affected by the sanctions, told the BBC that she was “not going to be intimidated” by the sanctions. The Chinese response to Western sanctions is a “wake-up call” by which all democratic countries and members of parliament must realize that “we cannot do our daily work without China imposing sanctions on us just because we are trying to track what is happening in Xinjiang and to make the abuse of the Uyghurs public.”
The United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada and the United States imposed sanctions on China this week to crack down on the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. Beijing responded angrily to the measures, imposing sanctions on ten politicians and scholars as well as four organizations from the European Union, Including the German European Parliament, Reinhard Boutiquesover (The Greens).
According to human rights organizations, there are at least a million Uighurs and other Muslims imprisoned in hundreds of detention camps in Xinjiang. There they were reportedly forced to abandon their religion, culture and language, and in some cases were also ill-treated. Beijing denies the allegations and talks of training and employment programs aimed at combating extremism in the regions.
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