The telegraph

Britain announces sanctions against China for Uyghur abuse

The UK has joined forces with the US, Canada and the European Union to announce a series of sanctions against Chinese officials accused of “appalling” human rights abuses against the Uyghurs. Foreign Minister Dominic Raab revealed the designations in the House of Commons when he described the abuse of Uighur Muslims in northwest China’s Xinjiang Province as “one of the worst human rights crises of our time.” The international community could “not simply look away” from the largest mass imprisonment of an ethnic or religious group since the Second World War, he emphasized. He announced asset freezes and travel bans for four senior Chinese politicians and officials for their roles in overseeing the large-scale detention, surveillance and indoctrination of Uighers. The public security bureau of the Xinjiang Manufacturing and Construction Corps, which Raab says is behind “repressive security policies” across the province, has also been blacklisted. The people who were sanctioned were Wang Mingshan and Chen Mingguo, both associated with the office. Zhu Hailun, former deputy head of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 13th People’s Congress; and Wang Junzheng, another Xinjiang politician. Mr. Raab described the grave abuses of the Uighur minority against the MPs: “Over a million people have been detained without trial and there are widespread allegations of torture and rape in the camps based on first-hand testimony from survivors. “People are arrested because they have too many children, pray too much, have a beard or wear a headscarf because they have the wrong thoughts.” He added that by working with 29 partner countries, including the EU, the UK and its allies are “sending the clearest message to the Chinese government”. The number of countries willing to speak out against Beijing together has increased from 23 to 39 as signs of abuse have accumulated. The British government plans to continue constructive dialogue with China whenever possible while advocating for the nation’s values. It is the first time that the UK has imposed “Magnitsky” sanctions on Chinese nationals against individuals and organizations responsible for serious human rights violations in foreign states. The absence of Chinese officials from the blacklist, which includes Russians and Saudis, had previously attracted criticism from high-ranking Tory China hawks. Mr Raab’s statement preceded a Monday night vote on a Tory-led amendment to the trade law aimed at setting up a judicial committee to determine whether actions under way in Xinjiang constitute genocide. The rebels were defeated in a narrow vote, which the government won by a narrow majority of 18. His intervention was welcomed by the Hawk Conservatives, though some believe it was brought forward in part to curb expected rebellion against the government over legislation. Lisa Nandy, Labour’s shadow foreign minister, described the move as “filthy and cynical” and asked why it had taken Mr Raab so long to act. Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, asked why Mr. Raab was reluctant to label China’s actions as “genocide,” to which the minister replied that “the importance of being judged is good is practiced “. Leading Chinese hawk Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said that ultimately the “money will stop” with the President of China for abuse of Uyghurs and Tibetans. The Secretary of State’s statement was coordinated with Washington, Ottawa and Brussels. It is the first series of European Union sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following Tiananmen Square. The travel bans and asset freezes mark the second time Brussels has implemented the “EU Magnitsky Law” to combat human rights abusers after it was first used on March 2 against Russian officials for the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The EU’s global human rights sanctions regime also prohibits people and organizations in the EU from providing funding for those to whom its actions relate. It allows the bloc to impose sanctions anywhere in the world, but it can only target individuals and not the countries’ economies. China immediately hit back with retaliatory measures against ten Europeans and four European units, including German MPs Reinhard Butikofer and Michael Gahler, French MP Raphaël Glücksmann, Bulgarian MP Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Slovak MP Miriam Lexmann in the Netherlands, Belgium and Lithuania as a scientist from Germany and Sweden were also named from Beijing. The sanctioned bodies were the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Germany and the Foundation of the Alliance of Democracies in Denmark. The sanctioned individuals and their families were banned from Hong Kong, Macau, or mainland China. Individuals and their affiliated companies and institutions are also prohibited from doing business with China, it was announced. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry alleged that the group “severely violated China’s sovereignty and interests, and maliciously spread lies and disinformation.” “The Chinese side urges the EU side to think about itself, to face the gravity of its mistake and to correct it … It must end the hypocritical practice of double standards and stop going the wrong way. Otherwise, China will continue to react decisively, ”added the spokesman. The EU also sanctioned 11 people for the military coup in Myanmar on February 1 and the subsequent crackdown on demonstrators when Brussels sanctioned 15 people and organizations around the world. Ten of the eleven people are among the highest ranks in the military including the Tatmadaw Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing and the Deputy Commander in Chief Soe Win. The sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans. Chechnya officials have also been listed for repression and torture of LGBTI people and political opponents. Others have been charged with repression in North Korea, killings and enforced disappearances in Libya, and torture and extrajudicial killings in South Sudan and Eritrea. The Hungarian Foreign Minister said the sanctions against Myanmar and China were “harmful” and “pointless”, although all EU sanctions require the unanimous support of all 27 member states, including Budapest, in order to be levied. The EU’s list of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau as a sanctioned entity did not include Chen Quanguo, who is the top official of the Communist Party in Xinjiang. He was hit by US sanctions last year. Before Mr Raab spoke in the House of Commons, Sir Iain said the exposure of British sanctions against Chinese officials for alleged abuse in Xinjiang was an Inter-Parliamentary Alliance victory against China (Ipac). Ipac has members from the legislatures of 19 different countries. “Through a truly bipartisan campaign by Ipac MPs in the UK and Europe, we have got the government to reconcile the actions of our neighbors,” said Sir Iain. Luke de Pulford, Ipac’s coordinator, said, “Even the casual observer can see that this move is an attempt to buy the support in today’s vote. “Even so, today’s actions are a great victory for us as we try to hold the Chinese government accountable for the Uyghur genocide.”