China Hits Back Against EU Sanctions Over Xinjiang

China on Monday said it had decided to impose sanctions on 10 EU individuals, including German politician Reinhard Butikofer, and four entities that it accused of seriously harming the country's sovereignty and interests over Xinjiang.

In a statement issued in response to an EU move earlier on Monday to blacklist Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the EU to "correct its mistake" and not to interfere in China's internal affairs.

The European Union imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the first sanctions against Beijing since an arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

While mainly symbolic, the sanctions mark a significant hardening in the EU's policy towards China, which Brussels long regarded as a benign trading partner but now views as a systematic abuser of basic rights and freedoms.

They are also likely to inflame tensions between Brussels and Beijing. The EU had not sanctioned China since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The arms embargo is still in place.

Activists and UN 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 sterilisations. (Reuters)