As China eases up on EU lawmakers, Brussels stays the course on Xinjiang sanctions
European Union will not remove sanctions on Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, even as Beijing moves to lift some of its retaliatory sanctions on EU lawmakers.
Advertisement
The Post reported earlier that China and the European Parliament were in the
'final stages' of lifting the punitive measures on sitting members, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks.
However a spokeswoman for the EU's diplomatic arm, which oversees foreign policy and sanctions, said on Thursday it had no plans to reciprocate because it had not observed an improvement in conditions in the
far western region of China
'The EU has not observed changes in the human rights situation in China/Xinjiang. Therefore, the Council maintains the China/Xinjiang-related designations,' Anitta Hipper, spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy, told the Post.
The tit-for-tat sanctioning blitz took place in March 2021, when Brussels joined the United States, Britain and Canada in slapping visa bans and asset freezes on several Chinese officials and one entity.
Advertisement
At the time, the EU said they were sanctioned for their roles in 'serious human rights violations in China, in particular large-scale arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uygurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
HKFP
2 hours ago
- HKFP
White House launches TikTok account as September deadline for platform's ban looms
The White House launched a TikTok account on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the United States despite a law requiring its sale. 'America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?' read a caption on the account's first post on the popular video sharing app, a 27-second clip. The account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump's personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 110.1 million followers, though his last post was on November 5, 2024 — Election Day. TikTok is owned by China-based internet company ByteDance. A federal law requiring TikTok's sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump's inauguration on January 20. But the Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause. In mid-June Trump extended a deadline for the popular video-sharing app by another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States. That extension is due to expire in mid-September. While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform — which boasts almost two billion global users — after coming to believe it helped him win young voters' support in the November election. Trump's official account on X, formerly Twitter, has 108.5 million followers — though his favored social media outlet is Truth Social, which he owns, where he has 10.6 million followers. The official White House accounts on X and Instagram have 2.4 million and 9.3 million followers, respectively.
HKFP
2 hours ago
- HKFP
Hong Kong democrats recently released from jail over landmark national security case say they got married
Hong Kong democrats Frankie Fung and Tiffany Yuen, who were recently released from jail after being convicted in the city's largest national security case, have announced they got married. Fung acknowledged their marriage on Instagram on Tuesday in a selfie with Yuen, hours after she returned home from more than four years behind bars. 'Previously [I] only had my wife's number in prison, today [I] finally have her phone number,' Fung wrote in a Chinese caption. '[I've] followed her on Instagram too,' he added. Fung and Yuen were co-defendants in the landmark national security case involving 47 pro-democracy figures. During Yuen's mitigation in July last year, her lawyer revealed that she had married while in custody, but did not disclose her partner's identity. Yuen and Fung pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit subversion and were sentenced to more than four years' imprisonment after a judge deemed them 'active participants' in the scheme. Separately, Yuen was jailed for four months in 2021 for joining an unauthorised assembly on June 4, 2020 — the first year police officially banned the Victoria Park vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. Fung was released last month, while Yuen was freed in the early hours of Tuesday. To date, 12 of the 45 jailed democrats have been released. At the centre of the high-profile case, which began in 2021, was the July 2020 primary election through which the opposition camp sought to select candidates who could help it secure a majority in the legislature. The judges ruled that the democrats intended to abuse their powers by indiscriminately vetoing the government budget in order to force the chief executive to resign if they gained control of the legislature. Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong's mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
AllAfrica
4 hours ago
- AllAfrica
China-India relations thaw but no major reset yet
After more than three years, China's top diplomat and Politburo member Wang Yi visited New Delhi this week for the 24th round of India-China Special Representative talks. The last round took place in December 2019, but the Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020 brought the dialogue to a halt. Talks resumed only in December 2023 in Beijing, following a Narendra Modi–Xi Jinping meeting in Kazan, Russia, in October that year. This visit contrasted starkly with Wang's trip to India in April 2022. Then, India gave him a lukewarm reception, largely because he had come directly from Islamabad and made contentious remarks on Kashmir at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. There was even speculation at the time about whether he would proceed to New Delhi at all. Now, the tone has shifted, reflecting a cautious and potentially ground-breaking recalibration in India–China relations amid Trump's tariff tantrum toward India. The Kazan meeting between Modi and Xi appears to have created space for tentative re-engagement and a recalibration of ties. Moves were afoot even before Trump's tariff tantrum toward India. In June, India's defense minister and national security advisor visited China, followed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's trip to Beijing in July. That bilateral momentum will build when China hosts and Modi attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin this month. Significantly, it will mark the first time Modi has traveled to China since 2018. Still, calling this a full China-India 'reset' might overstate the reality while deep-seated mistrust lingers. What's unfolding is better seen as a cautious inclination toward cooperation in sectors where both nations see mutual benefit — and strategic necessity — in easing tensions amid a turbulent global landscape shaped by Trump's tariff-induced trade frictions and rising geopolitical uncertainty. Wang's inability to meet Modi in March 2022 symbolized the frost between the two sides at the time. But much has changed since. China has recently eased curbs on exports of fertilizers, rare earth minerals, magnets and tunnel-boring machines — all vital inputs for India's manufacturing and infrastructure sectors. India, in turn, has relaxed visa policies for Chinese nationals, reopened limited border trade and begun engaging with select Chinese firms to secure supply chain components needed for its domestic production goals. New Delhi's push for 'Make in India' manufacturing self-reliance depends, in part, on access to Chinese industrial inputs. Beijing, meanwhile, may see an opportunity to leverage tensions in India's ties with the US, aiming to tilt New Delhi away from Washington and reinvigorate the Russia–India–China strategic triangle. This pragmatism reflects mutual recognition of tactical and strategic leverage points. Indian establishment voices in policymaking circles have increasingly urged joint ventures with Chinese firms that hold dominant global positions in manufacturing and supply chains. To be sure, the bilateral thaw is delicate and tentative. Symbolic gestures — resuming direct flights, reopening the Kailash–Mansarovar pilgrimage and loosening investment restrictions — suggest movement toward normalized ties. Yet key irritants persist, including lack of data-sharing on Himalayan rivers, the unresolved issue of the Dalai Lama's reincarnation and, perhaps most crucially, China's strategic axis with Pakistan. While both sides speak of stabilizing borders and how the Xi-Modi meeting last year in Kazan created a 'new environment' for diplomacy, their disputed 3,488-kilometer border means the peace is still fragile and tentative. For India, Modi's Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) vision is a key driver. Unlike past Soviet-style licensed production, India today seeks technology transfers to build its manufacturing base. But Chinese companies, like others, will tightly control how much technology crosses borders — and under what conditions. Some joint initiatives are emerging, but asymmetry in economic and technological power remains. India, for its part, wants to diversify its technology and investment sources without becoming overly dependent on either China or the US. And while Beijing may seek to prevent India from drifting too far into US-led geopolitical and supply chain initiatives, their diplomatic-economic-strategic balancing act remains delicate. India continues to see China's close relationship with Pakistan as a limiting factor in bilateral ties. China supplies more than 80% of Pakistan's defense imports and offered intelligence support, including live inputs, during recent India–Pakistan clashes. Wang's scheduled trip to Islamabad after New Delhi — to co-chair the sixth Pakistan–China Strategic Dialogue and review the status of the Belt and Road Initiative-driven China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)— underscored this reality. New Delhi also recognizes that Beijing may quietly welcome the recent and significant strain in US–India relations. Despite foundational defense agreements and the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), Washington remains hesitant to share advanced technologies with India. The Trump administration's renewed protectionist measures, not least his 50% punitive tariff on India over its purchase of sanctioned Russian oil, have made top-tier US tech-sharing even less likely. Wang put the dispute in a broader global context, warning that the world faces 'a once-in-a-century transformation at an accelerating pace,' and must resist 'bullying' tactics — a not-so-veiled critique of Washington that aimed to pull India more deeply into the expanding BRICS bloc of middle powers. Jaishankar echoed a shared call for 'reformed multilateralism,' positioning India and China as powers aligned on global governance, even as their bilateral irritants remain unresolved. Wang's meeting with Modi also laid the diplomatic groundwork for the Indian leader's upcoming China visit, marking perhaps the most consequential upshot of the Chinese envoy's visit. Symbolism — resumed flights, pilgrimage access and border calm — may help restore public perceptions of China-India normalcy. Substantive issues — minerals, joint ventures and tech transfer — will likely evolve more cautiously. Still, this week's diplomacy showed that, despite rivalry, both nations are exploring ways to coexist and cooperate in the fractured global order driven by Trump-era tariffs and 'America First' nationalism. It's for now a modest ambition, but in today's world, modesty itself is an achievement.
