Xinjiang sanctions not enough to convince China hawks to support EU investment deal

Slapping the first sanctions on Chinese officials for three decades is not enough to convince some sceptics in Brussels to support the EU-China investment deal – even as Beijing warns that it is ready to retaliate in kind.

On Monday, the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers will formally adopt sanctions targeting Chinese officials for human rights infringements in Xinjiang. They will be the first of Brussels’ new human rights sanctioning tools to be directed against China, and the first of any kind since those imposed after the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

But strong opposition to the deal has emerged among European politicians, who need to ratify the deal before it goes into effect. They say the labour chapter is not stringent enough in the face of allegations of widespread forced labour in Xinjiang.

“The sanctions will be insufficient, and we also need Hong Kong-related sanctions – starting with the 10 names the European Parliament stated in the January resolution,” said Miriam Lexmann, a Slovakian MEP, referring to a unanimously passed resolution calling for the sanctioning of Hong Kong officials – including Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor – over the imposition of a national security law in the city.