Taiwan would stand with the EU, the US, the UK and Canada to defend human rights, democracy and freedom, the government said yesterday, calling on Beijing to revoke its “retaliatory” sanctions on EU members.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday announced sanctions on 10 EU officials and four EU entities after the EU sanctioned four Chinese officials and the Public Security Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps over alleged human rights violations against minorities in Xinjiang.
Those targeted by Beijing’s sanctions include European Parliament members Reinhard Butikofer, who is also the chair of the parliament’s Delegation for Relations with China, and Michael Gahler, as well as Belgian Chamber of Representatives member Samuel Cogolati.
The four sanctioned entities are the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the EU, the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the European Parliament, the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Germany, and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in Denmark.
Meanwhile, the US Department of State on Monday said in a statement that “we, the Foreign Ministers of Canada and the United Kingdom, and the United States Secretary of State, are united in our deep and ongoing concern regarding China’s human rights violations and abuses in Xinjiang.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing in Taipei yesterday that the targets of Beijing’s sanctions are heavyweight supporters of Taiwan or internationally acclaimed organizations.
The ministry would continue to work with these friends, as well as the EU, the US, the UK, Canada and other like-minded partners, to defend human rights, democracy and freedom, and spurn the threats and bullying of a totalitarian regime, Ou said.
The Chinese government’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy has sparked worldwide denunciations, while its so-called “sanctions” only demonstrate its abominable nature and inability to reflect on its wrongs, she said.
Beijing should swiftly improve its human rights protections, and revoke its improper sanctions on EU officials and entities, so it can respond to the international society’s expectations, Ou said.
After learning about the sanctions, Butikofer wrote on Twitter: “The Chinese leadership has let me know that I will not be allowed to visit the mainland, Hong Kong or Macao. But then there is Taiwan.”
“This makes dialogue with representatives of the People’s Republic more difficult and burdensome which I find regrettable. I will not let up in my advocacy for human rights and democracy. I suspect that my chairmanship of the Taiwan Friendship groups played a certain role,” Gahler wrote on Twitter.
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