China lifted sanctions imposed on five European Union lawmakers in 2021, the EU parliament said on Wednesday.
Sanctions were imposed in retaliation for alleged persecution of Uyghur Muslims living in the far west and western regions of China in Xinjiang.
European Parliament President Roberta Metosola has been at the helm of negotiations to lift sanctions as tensions between the EU and China have eased since US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Beijing in April.
In a statement informing senior lawmakers of the breakthrough, Metsora said, “Relations with China remain complex and multifaceted. The best way to approach it is through involvement and dialogue.”
The sanctions were part of a series of measures implemented by Beijing in 2021 in response to coordinated sanctions imposed on Chinese officials by the EU, the UK, Canada and the US on alleged human rights violations against UYHGURS.
Five EU lawmakers have been accused of 10 European politicians and four bodies of “maliciously spreading lies and misinformation” and “severe interfering with China’s internal affairs.”
Michael Garler, Rafael Gluxman, Ilihan Kyuchok, Miriam Lekman, and Reinhard Vicofer, who are no longer members of the Congress, were approved by China.
They were banned from entering Chinese territory. This is a move that led Parliament to halt all official dialogue with China and to post investment contracts for EU lawmakers to support it.
Nevertheless, sanctions did not stop EU lawmakers from denounce China and treating Uighurs, a Turkish Muslim minority native to New Jiang.
Following the announcement, senior lawmakers argued that Beijing’s move “doesn’t mean that the European Parliament will overlook sustained challenges in relations between the EU and China,” vowing that Parliament will “remain a strong advocate” of human rights.
China’s inter-parliamentary alliance responded to the lifting of sanctions with a firm warning that “to be clear, the removal of some sanctions by the totalitarian regime does not constitute a favor to justify concessions from the EU.”
The Uyghurs are Turkish Muslim people native to New Jiang. After decades of conflict over the suppression of their cultural identity, Beijing is said to have launched a brutal crackdown on the Uighurs, which some Western governments consider to be genocide.
China claims that its measures, including vocational training centres, are attempts to break out extremism and prevent terrorist attacks.
