Iain Duncan Smith
China critic Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the United Kingdom’s former Conservative leader and Secretary of State, recently sanctioned by China, says he will wear his sanctions”as a badge of honour”.
He is one of those sanctioned following the actions by Britain, the European Union, Canada and the United States,who all imposed sanctions on four senior Chinese officials during March. The Chinese officials sanctioned are those involved in the mass internments taking place in East Turkestan [Ch: Xinjian], the Muslim majority province in the north west of China where the Uyghur population is being subjected to gross human rights abuses. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.
Dominic Raab, the UK Foreign Secretary, said that China’s treatment of the Uyghurs is “the largest mass detention of an ethnic and religious group since the second world war”, and that the evidence of repression “is clear as it is sobering”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Amid growing international condemnation, [China] continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang […] We will continue to stand with our allies around the world in calling for an immediate end to the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] crimes and for justice for the many victims.”
“Mounting evidence points to systemic, state-led human rights violations by Chinese authorities”, said Canada’s Foreign Ministry.
Zhang Ming, the Chinese ambassador to the EU
Zhang Ming, the Chinese ambassador to the EU, responded with a warning of countermeasures, and that organisations spreading “lies” about what is happening in East Turkestan would be included in these countermeasures. China issued a statement saying, “The Chinese side urges the EU side to reflect on itself, face squarely the severity of its mistake, and redress it. It must stop lecturing others on human rights and interfering in their internal affairs. It must end the hypocritical practice of double standards.”
China’s response was supported by Russia, whose Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on a visit to China that EU “unilateral decisions” had “destroyed” ties with Russia.
In retaliation to the sanctions against them, the Chinese government imposed their own sanctions on UK and EU citizens and groups on March 26: nine individuals, including five British Members of Parliament, are all banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau. Four UK-based groups have also been sanctioned. All will have their properties in China frozen and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them.
China has not placed a sanction on the UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab; this reflects the UK’s omission to sanction Chen Quanguo, Party Secretary of the “ Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)”, or East Turkestan, and former governor of Tibet. UK Tibet support group Free Tibet is campaigning to have the UK government include Chen Quanguo in the sanctions.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that those sanctioned were “shining a light” on “gross human rights violations”, and continued, “Freedom to speak out in opposition to abuse is fundamental and I stand firmly with them”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, one of those sanctioned in the UK, said, “Those of us who live free lives under the rule of law must speak for those who have no voice. If that brings the anger of China down upon me then I shall wear that as a badge of honour.”
China and the EU are due to sign a major investment deal and there is some concern this will be jeopardised by the sanctions. China has imposed sanctions on 10 EU individuals and four entities.Guy Verhofstadt, a German MEP, is quoted in the Guardian as saying, “China just killed the EU-China Investment Agreement by sanctioning the people criticising slave labour [and] genocide in Xinjiang. How could we ever trust them to improve the human rights situation of the Uyghurs if they simply call it ‘fake news’?”
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