Violating Human Rights Of Uighur Muslims In Xinjiang, Chinese Officials Sanctioned By The European Union

Rallies in support of Uighur Muslims. (Wikimedia Commons / Claudia Himmelreich)

JAKARTA - The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday against four Chinese officials, including the top security director, for violating human rights in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded with retaliatory sanctions against Europeans.

Those who were sanctioned included former Secretary of the Political Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang Zhu Hailun, Head of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Wang Junzhen, Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau Chen Quangguo, and Secretary of the Political Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang Wang Mingshan.

This is the first significant sanction imposed by the European Union, following an arms embargo in 1989, following the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy action on Tiananmen Square.

Launching Reuters, the European Union called the mass detention followed by humiliating treatment of Uighur Muslims a serious violation of human rights. As well as systematic violations of freedom of religion or belief.

Unlike the United States, the European Union has not imposed sanctions on high Xinjiang official Chen Quangguo, who has been sanctioned by the United States.

UN rights activists and experts say at least 1 million Uighur Muslims are being held in camps in the remote western region of Xinjiang. Activists and some Western politicians accuse China of using torture, forced labor, and sterilization.

China denies violating human rights in Xinjiang and says its camps provide vocational training and are necessary to fight extremism.

While largely symbolic, these European Union sanctions mark a significant hardening in European Union policy towards China. So far, the European Union views China as a friendly trading partner as well as the second-largest business market, after the United States.