The European Commission has put efforts to ratify a investment agreement with China on hold, after tit-for-tat sanctions imposed over the Beijing regime’s human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, the EU’s top trade official said on May 4.
“It’s clear in the current situation, with the EU sanctions in place against China and Chinese counter-sanctions in place, including against members of the European Parliament [that] the environment is not conducive for the ratification of the agreement,” Dombrovskis said.
In March, the Chinese regime imposed sanctions on 10 EU citizens, including five MEPs, claiming “gross interference” in its internal affairs and that the EU was “flagrantly violating international law.”
The move was in retaliation to the EU’s first sanction on China in more than 30 years for human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority, including on four regional and party representatives and an entity in Xinjiang Province. More than 1 million Uyghurs are being detained in concentration camps, which are described by the communist regime as “vocational training schools.”
An EU spokesperson said that Beijing’s sanctions targeting members of the European Parliament are “unacceptable and regrettable,” reported the South China Morning Post.
“The agreement needs to be now legally reviewed and translated before it can be presented for adoption and ratification. However, the ratification process of the [deal] cannot be separated from the evolving dynamics of the wider EU—China relationship,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
French MEP Nathalie Loiseau said the commission is being realistic.