China responded to coordinated sanctions against it by the U.S., the European Union, the UK and Canada by imposing punitive sanctions of its own against 10 EU citizens Monday.
Moments after the EU announced the sanctions, China also blacklisted four EU entities, including Germany's Mercator Institute for China Studies, which it accuses of seriously harming China's sovereignty and interests over Xinjiang.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the 10 EU citizens were sanctioned for "gross interference" in China's internal affairs, for "flagrantly violating international law" and "maliciously spreading lies and false information."
The ministry also cajoled the EU to reverse course on the bloc's sanctions against four Chinese officials and a Chinese construction company it punished and corrected its "serious mistake." It again told the EU not to interfere in its internal affairs.
Five members of the European Parliament are on China's blacklist: Reinhard Bütikofer, chair of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with China, Michael Gahler, Raphaël Glucksmann, Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Miriam Lexmann. These parliamentarians are members of the human rights and security committee. China also sanctioned the subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament.
Among the other EU officials punished are academic Adrian Zenz, an expert on China's policies in Xinjiang and Swedish scholar Björn Jerdén. Butikofer condemned China's sanctioning him as "brazen and ridiculous."
The Chinese actions mean the EU individuals concerned and their families are prohibited from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao. These people and companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China.
China might later up the ante by sanctioning all 27 EU ambassadors that are all members of the European Council's Political and Security Committee. Political observers doubt China will go to this extreme given this move will invite stronger counter action from the EU and damage already strained relations even further.
"The EU's move, based on nothing but lies and disinformation, disregards and distorts facts, grossly interferes in China's internal affairs, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, and severely undermines China-EU relations," said a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
On Monday, the Western powers together sanctioned four raking Chinese government officials and a construction company over human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority group.
The Biden administration later the same day separately sanctioned two other Chinese officials for their roles in serious human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.
The EU sanctioned Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau; Zhu Hailun, former head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) office in Xinjiang; Wang Junzheng, CPC secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and Wang Mingshan, member of the Xinjiang CPC standing committee.
