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Police on patrol at Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang. Photo: AFP

Beijing calls for ‘objective’ assessment of Xinjiang policy as EU takes China to task over human rights

  • Brussels urges China to proportional measures in Xinjiang, where system of re-education camps for Muslim Uygurs is in operation

The European Union has voiced concern about “worrying developments” in China’s western Xinjiang region and called for the release of dissidents and human rights campaigners from custody.

The bloc of 28 nations made the call during the two-day EU-China Human Rights Dialogue held in Brussels, Belgium, this week which was attended by senior Chinese and European officials.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is expected to attend a China-EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels on April 9.

The EU highlighted the erosion of civil and political rights in China, marked by the arrests and detention of campaigners and lawyers.

Brussels demanded the release of Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen and a Hong Kong bookseller who has been detained in China since January last year; Uygurs who live in Xinjiang including the jailed scholar Ilham Tohti; human rights lawyers such as Wang Quanzhang and Wang Yu, and campaigners such as Wu Gan.

The EU said its officials also raised the cases of Canadian detainees Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, as well as Robert Schellenberg, who has been sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

The EU is reassessing its China strategy. Last month, the European Commission, the union’s executive body, labelled China a “systemic rival” at a time when the bloc was struggling to present a united front on issues including human rights.

China invites European diplomats to visit Xinjiang as backlash grows over Muslim camps

Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Monday that China’s growing economic influence and its sensitivity to criticism on its human rights record have made it difficult for Europe to agree on a unified foreign policy position.

“One country is unable to condemn China’s human rights policy because Chinese investors are travelling in one of its ports,” Juncker said. “Another country cannot support the decision of the Geneva Human Rights Commission because Chinese investors are travelling somewhere on its territory. It cannot work like this.”

During the meeting, EU officials also raised the “worrying development” of Xinjiang, where a system of political re-education camps is in operation. Beijing said its de-radicalisation and anti-terrorist measures in the western region were essential to peace and stability.

China says it has arrested 13,000 ‘terrorists’ in Xinjiang as it seeks to justify internment camps for Muslims

“While actions to counter terrorism are essential, such measures must respect the principle of proportionality, fundamental freedoms and international laws,” the EU said.

Brussels also called for China to “allow meaningful, unsupervised and unrestricted access to Xinjiang for independent observers, including for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Special Procedures.”

China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the Chinese delegation called for the EU to “fairly and objectively” assess Beijing’s human rights situations, and for talks and cooperation on human rights that were based on equality and mutual respect.

During their dialogue in Brussels, European Union representatives raised the death sentence imposed upon Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg with Chinese officials. Photo: AFP
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: EU calls for release of bookseller and Uygurs
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