Latest news with #Uygurs
The Star
26-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
European Parliament in ‘final stages' of talks with China to remove sanctions on lawmakers
The European Parliament is in the 'final stages' of discussions with Beijing about removing sanctions on its members, smoothing the way for improved relations with the bloc, according to a spokesperson for the lawmaking body. 'Discussions with the Chinese authorities are continuing and in their final stages,' the spokesperson said. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola 'will first inform group leaders once there is official confirmation from the Chinese authorities that sanctions have been lifted. It has always been the EP's intention to have sanctions lifted and resume relations with China', the spokesperson added. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. It is understood that Metsola has met the Chinese ambassador several times and worked intensively over the past weeks to get this over the finish line. The Chinese government put retaliatory sanctions on some MEPs in 2021, after the EU sanctioned some Chinese officials and entities over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The plan to remove sanctions was first reported by Noah Barkin, a senior adviser at Rhodium Group, a US research house, on his LinkedIn page. The lawmakers sanctioned were German conservative Michael Gahler, French socialist Raphaël Glucksmann, centrist Bulgarian Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Slovak conservative Miriam Lexmann, and Reinhard Bütikofer, a Green member who retired at last year's EU elections. Sanctions also applied to the parliament's subcommittee on human rights. Further sanctions, amounting to a visa ban and asset freezes in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, were applied to a group of EU ambassadors who sat on the powerful European Council's Political Security Committee, as well as the Mercator Institute for China Studies think tank and several other researchers. It is unclear if those sanctions are also set to be lifted. The targeting of this group came after the EU – along with the US, Britain and Canada – sanctioned several Chinese entities for their role in the persecution of Uygurs and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang. Four Chinese officials were targeted as part of that move in 2021: Zhu Hailun, a former secretary of Xinjiang's political and legal affairs committee; Wang Junzheng, Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; Wang Mingshan, a member of the party standing committee in Xinjiang; and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau was also sanctioned, with Brussels saying the body was 'responsible for 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'. The tit-for-tat exchange led to the collapse of a long-negotiated EU-China investment pact, after the parliament refused to consider ratifying it while sanctions remained in place. Beijing has been pushing, behind the scenes and in public, for the pact's passage to be reopened - pleas that have fallen on deaf ears until recently. But in recent months, the parliament has made recent efforts to improve ties, including removing restrictions on members meeting Chinese officials, exclusively reported by the Post in March. The thaw comes after US President Donald Trump's return to the White House has put unrelenting pressure on transatlantic relations. Many in Europe have pushed for an improvement in ties with Beijing, to avoid waging simultaneous trade wars with the world's top two superpowers. The relationship sunk to fresh lows in recent years, with the sides clashing over Beijing's close ties with Moscow following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Brussels has also urged China to address its economic policies. It has taken strong issue with what it says are market-distorting subsidies that are helping create industrial overcapacity, leading to goods being exported at low cost to European markets, pricing out local competitors. But Trump's return has inspired a resumption in talks about solving these trade grievances, amid a flurry of face-to-face diplomacy. EU leaders will travel to Beijing for a summit with China's Xi Jinping in July, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected in Brussels before then for political dialogue with Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat. Those talks are particularly urgent given fears in Europe that Trump's huge tariffs on Chinese goods will cause a re-routing of industrial items to European ports, further pressuring local manufacturers. China, meanwhile, has embarked on a charm offensive of its own, trying to rally European governments to fight Trump's duties together. On Tuesday, Wang spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Austria and Britain, in an effort to convince them to oppose US moves. 'The US uses tariffs as a weapon to launch indiscriminate attacks on various countries ... as a responsible country, China has stood up to stop it, not only to safeguard its own legit rights and interests, but also to safeguard international rules and the multilateral trading system,' Wang told Britain's top envoy David Lammy. More from South China Morning Post: For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2025.
South China Morning Post
24-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
As China eases up on EU lawmakers, Brussels stays the course on Xinjiang sanctions
The 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'.
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Man detained in Sweden on suspicion of spying on Uygurs for China
A Swedish court on Wednesday ordered the detention of a man suspected of spying on ethnic Uygurs for China, Sweden's prosecution authority said on Wednesday. Advertisement The prosecution authority declined to give more detail on the case or whether it concerned the small population of Uygurs living in Sweden or groups elsewhere. The man, whose nationality was also not disclosed, is in custody in the Swedish capital, court documents showed. 'The man is suspected of having illegally collected information and intelligence on people in the Uygur environment on behalf of the Chinese intelligence service,' Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement earlier on Wednesday. The Chinese embassy in Sweden said in an email it was not aware of the case. It did not comment further. 02:47 UN human rights body says China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang UN human rights body says China may have committed crimes against humanity in Xinjiang Rights groups accuse Beijing of widespread abuses of Uygurs, a mainly Muslim ethnic minority group of about 10 million people who live in China's far western Xinjiang region.
South China Morning Post
21-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Western sanctions on China and Russia have done little to change their minds: analysts
Despite a torrent of Western sanctions imposed on Beijing and Moscow, there is little evidence they have had any success in altering Chinese or Russian policies, analysts said on Friday. Advertisement The punitive measures have not convinced China to reduce its civilian-military integration or augment its policies towards ethnic Uygurs in Xinjiang , said Martin Chorzempa of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, nor have they convinced Moscow to roll back its war on Ukraine 'It is very hard to think of cases where China has said, 'because of the sanctions, we're going to change',' added Chorzempa, speaking at a PIIE event in Washington on Friday. 'Can we actually change other countries' policies? I think we should be quite bearish.' However, such pressure succeeded in making it more difficult for China and Russia to carry out effective policies over time, analysts said.
South China Morning Post
21-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Praise for Xinjiang as Thai ministers visit deported Uygurs in western Chinese region
Thailand hopes to 'learn from Xinjiang 's experience' of managing a multi-ethnic society, deputy prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai has been quoted as telling the Communist Party chief of the western Chinese region earlier this week. Advertisement According to an official Chinese statement released on Friday, Ma Xingrui, party secretary for the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, held talks with Phumtham – who is also the Thai defence minister – in the city of Kashgar on Wednesday. The Thai delegation, which included senior officials and media representatives, also visited repatriated Uygurs at their homes the same day, accompanied by local officials, the Thai Public Broadcasting Service reported. Uygurs are a mainly Muslim ethnic minority that the West and rights groups claim have been persecuted by Beijing , which rejects the charge. Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party secretary for Xinjiang, hopes to 'further strengthen exchanges and interactions between Xinjiang and Thailand at the local level'. Photo: AP The Thai visit was part of a deal struck with Beijing when Bangkok agreed to send back 40 Uygurs who had spent more than a decade in detention since fleeing China. They are reported to have been trying to reach Turkey, which has a significant Uygur population, and were detained by Thai border control.
