Renew Europe strongly condemns China’s sanctions on EU entities and individuals

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Date: March 22, 2021

The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament strongly condemns China’s decision to impose sanctions on a number of European entities and individuals, including the EP sub-committee on Human Rights and our MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk. China falsely accuses them of severely harming China's sovereignty and interests and maliciously spreading lies and disinformation.

China’s move comes after today’s EU Foreign Affairs Council’s decision to implement the EU Human rights sanctions regime/EU Magnitsky act and impose restrictive measures on eleven individuals and four entities responsible for serious human rights violations and abuses in various countries around the world, including the large-scale arbitrary detentions of, in particular, Uyghurs in Xinjiang in China.

MEP Dacian Cioloș (USR PLUS, Romania), President of Renew Europe Group, said:

“China's sanctions against MEPs and the European Parliament are unacceptable. The EU must respond firmly to these attempts at intimidation. This shows once again that China is not willing to consider a real dialogue with Europeans on the fundamental issue of respect for human rights.”

MEP Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Ciudadanos, Spain), Renew Europe Group’s Coordinator in the Subcommittee on Human Rights, added:

“The European Parliament - and especially the Subcommittee of Human Rights- is a space for open dialogue and discussion. China's response, sanctioning fellow Members and the Subcommittee of Human Rights, is a clear and flagrant demonstration of how dialogue and dissent are not acceptable to the Chinese government. The aggressiveness and senselessness of its unjust action shows us how sanctions targeting those responsible for Human Rights violations in China are more relevant than ever. Today's events should serve as an impetus for a necessary review of our relations with the Chinese government. To defend our values - democracy, freedom, human dignity - we need to act with more determination and forcefulness than we have done so far.”