EU to Slap Sanctions on China Over Abuses of Uyghurs and Others in Xinjiang

European Union members have agreed to impose sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity over Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), European diplomats were quoted as saying Wednesday. Ambassadors from the 27 EU countries approved the XUAR measures, which would be the first imposed on China by Brussels since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, as part of a package of human rights sanctions that also target individuals in Russia, North Korea and others, AFP news agency reported.

The sanctions, which require formal confirmation by EU foreign ministers meeting on March 22, follow a raft of U.S. sanctions in 2020 on Chinese entities and officials in Xinjiang, and tighter scrutiny on exports from the XUAR over concerns over forced labor. The individuals and entity have not been named.

The sanctions decision came during a stalemate in talks with China to arrange a visit by EU ambassadors to Xinjiang to probe reports of abuses there, including the detention of up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps since early 2017, forcible sterilization of women and forced labor.

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