On Monday (March 22), the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and Canada imposed sanctions on some Chinese officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang region. The move was part of a coordinated action against Beijing by the U.S. and its allies under newly crowned U.S. President Joe Biden. But it appears Beijing was prepared for such attacks.
If the Western governments thought they could easily pressure Beijing, they were wrong. China retaliated immediately with punitive measures against the EU. Slamming the EU’s sanctions as nothing but lies and disinformation, countermeasures by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not only quick, but also broader in terms of scope.
Those being targeted by the Chinese government included European lawmakers, diplomats, institutes and even families, who will not be able to enter mainland China, Hong Kong or Macao. In addition, the individuals and associated companies and institutions will be restricted from doing business with China. The degree of retaliation has obviously shocked the EU.
Apparently, the EU has imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, and one entity, a decision later mirrored by Britain and Canada. The EU slapped travel bans on Chen Mingguo (director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau), Wang Mingshan (former deputy party secretary in Xinjiang), Zhu Hailun and another senior official in the region, Wang Junzheng.
The EU accused Chen Mingguo of “arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uighurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities”. Activists and U.N. rights experts claim at least 1 million Muslims have been detained in camps in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has been accused of using torture, forced labour and sterilizations.
As Western countries seek to hold Beijing accountable for mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs, the U.S. has gone one step further – accusing Beijing of committing genocide. However, China says its camps provide vocational training and are necessary to fight extremism. The Muslim Uighur separatists had previously committed terrorism, including the hijack of Tianjin Airlines Flight 7554.
The retaliation on Monday saw China imposed sanctions against 10 European politicians and four bodies that it accused of “maliciously spreading lies and disinformation” and ” interfering in China’s internal affairs”. German politician Reinhard Butikofer, who chairs the European Parliament’s delegation to China, was among the most high-profile figures to be hit.
While the relations between China and the U.S. and Canada have already soured during the previous Trump administration, the EU has sought to avoid confrontation with Beijing. In fact, the Monday’s EU sanctions were the first significant measures since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. But the Europe’s sanctions come with its price – a halt to investments in China.
The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), first proposed in 2013, would significantly open up the Chinese internal market to EU companies. China has agreed to eliminate joint venture requirements, forced transfer of technologies and quantitative restrictions for EU. On Dec 30, 2020, after 7 years of negotiations, the EU and China concluded the CAI in principle.
The CAI was such a big deal that the announcement of the proposed investment deal sparked a “firestorm of criticism” in the U.S. because the EU did not consult the United States before making the decision. The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the EU-China investment deal in early 2022. Now, the investment deal could be jeopardised.
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, said – “China’s sanctions on MEPs (Members of the European Parliament), the Human Rights Subcommittee and EU bodies are unacceptable and will have consequences”. Clearly, the EU did not expect the Chinese would hit back strong and hard, and probably would not ratify the EU-China investment deal agreed in December.
Kathleen van Brempt, an MEP from the Socialist and Democrats group, the second-largest political grouping in the European Parliament with 145 MEPs, said – “The lifting of sanctions against MEPs is a pre-condition for us to enter into talks with the Chinese government on the investment deal”. Like it or not, this means Beijing has pressed the right button with the retaliations.
The fact that China has chosen to hit the EU with such actions without any consideration that the EU-China investment deal would collapse suggests that Beijing will not tolerate any attempt by the Western countries to bully it. The world’s second-largest economy is willing to kill the CAI investment agreement to send a message – the EU cannot use human rights as a tool to pressure it.
The China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has told the European Union to stop lecturing others on human rights and interfering in their internal affairs. Besides mocking the EU of being hypocritical and practising double standards, it has also warned of further actions. It has summoned Nicolas Chapuis, EU ambassador to China, on Monday night to protest sanctions by the EU.
If there’s one thing that Beijing has learned from former President Donald Trump, it is that China can never win in an argument where the West wantonly interfered in other countries’ domestic affairs by using democracy and human rights as an excuse. And China has also learned that tit-for-tat – either in the form of sanctions or tariffs – is the best tactic to counter an act of aggression.
Exactly why was the EU jumping like a cat on hot bricks when Beijing imposed the same sanctions on its MEPs? What type of human rights being practised by Europe when it can freely sanction Chinese officials but not vice versa? It should not upset and furious because China was merely doing exactly what the EU has done, only on a broader scope.
After successfully dragged its allies into the fight, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken happily said – “Whether it is tackling some of the new challenges like climate or the cyber realm, the rise of autocratic states and the challenges that they pose, we have a profound interest in doing it together, doing it collectively, relying on collective security, and that’s what NATO is all about.”
However, the EU sanction is merely symbolic. Beijing will not scrap or cancel its “vocational training” for the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang just because the U.S., U.K, Canada and the EU have decided to gang-up to teach China a lesson about human rights. The EU’s sanctions on 4 Chinese officials were reciprocated with 10 EU parliamentarians banned in China.
As far as China is concerned, the EU’s financial and military power is much weaker than that of the U.S. The Chinese don’t care about the investment deal. To do nothing against the 27 member countries of the EU would project weakness. More importantly, the EU was seen as being subservient to America. So, why should Beijing afraid of EU politicians if not even Trump could bring China to its knees?
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March 23rd, 2021 by financetwitter
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For the sake of the Xinjiang bros, who are mostly of the Sufi, Shia, Hanafi, Hui fraternities, and for failing to get any interest from among Islamic countries during his attempt at Malaysia’s great Islamic jamboree to be a voice to the Muslim world, the Yanks should have consulted our Snake Pharaoh Dr Monster about how to approach the delicate matter of antagonising the Chinese.
Dr Monster made history when he told the world he was going to lecture the Chinese about “debt traps”, at the same time make the Chinese buy our palm oil. Dr Monster made a few whimpers to the Chinese, and the Chinese told him to fcuk off. As a result, Malaysia ended up having to pay hefty penalties for cancelling Chinese projects, the Snake Pharaoh’s cronies deprived of deals, and our monkeys made to suffer diarrhoea from having to be our own customers drinking palm oil five times a day.
With Blinking Blinken and his bunch not consulting our wise old zombie first before facing the Chinese, the hapless Yanks suffered the gross gigantic humiliation of the Chinese diplos telling them to fcuk off with an extra long lecture in both Chinese and English.
Malaysia is still suffering to this day from the Chinese curse on Dr Monster, no doubt it’ll be the same for Yankland with the extra-thick pasting from their imperial majesties.
The moral of the story is if you fool of yourself, delusional and senile like Dr Monster, you get the Chinese waking you up from the living dead with a resounding fcuk off. The Yank team may just be arrogant and delusional, but the Chinese still get the Yanks to sh*t the living daylight out of themselves with an equally flavourful fcuk off.
It looks like the West have no testicular fortitude (means big balls to you monkeys), they left Xinjiang’s party secretary Chen Quanguo out of the sanctioned list. He won’t be able to do shopping sprees for his wife in the West, and the Chinese only suffer from not being able to eat Syrians, surely not a big price to pay for telling foreigners to fcuk off.
Last time Deng Xiaoping told Maggie Thatcher to fcuk off over Hong Kong she toppled over two steps, and the Brits lost Hong Kong.
Well, Biden fell three times even before the Chinese told Biden to fcuk off!