EU envoys agree first China sanctions in three decades

The European Union agreed on Wednesday to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses, two diplomats said, the first sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following the Tianamen Square crackdown.

The EU last sanctioned China, its second-largest trade partner, in June 1989, imposing an arms embargo on Beijing that is still in place.

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 labour, and sterilization.

The Dutch parliament followed Canada and the United States in labeling China’s treatment of the Uighurs genocide, which China rejects.

On Twitter, the Chinese mission to the EU republished comments on the new sanctions made on Tuesday by China’s ambassador to the bloc, Zhang Ming, saying that Beijing would not change its policies.

“Sanctions are confrontational,” the Chinese mission said on Twitter. “We want dialogue, not confrontation. We ask the EU side to think twice. If some insist on confrontation, we will not back down, as we have no options other than fulfilling our responsibilities to the people.”

China denies any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.

The EU’s full list of 11 names approved by EU ambassadors also includes officials from Russia, Libya, South Sudan, and North Korea, diplomats said.