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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'.