China sanctions British MPs, lawyers, businesses for Xinjiang ‘disinformation’

Name: Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton
Uploaded: 2021-03-26T01:53:00.000Z
Duration: 2 min 38 s
Description: Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton

Chinese foreign ministry says sanctions are in retaliation to British sanctions on China over human rights issues in Xinjiang

It says Britons ‘maliciously spread lies and disinformation’ about Xinjiang, where China has been accused of genocide and forced labour

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Controversy has surrounded China’s policies in Xinjiang, such as the use of what it calls “vocational training” or “re-education” centres for Uygurs and other mostly Muslim minorities. Photo: Reuters

Wendy WuandFinbarr Bermingham

Published: 9:53am, 26 Mar 2021Updated: 5:25pm, 26 Mar 2021

China on Friday announced sanctions on nine individuals and four entities in Britain that it said “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang, as tensions over its human rights record continued to escalate.

The Chinese foreign ministry said the action was in response to British sanctions on China over human rights issues in Xinjiang, in China’s far west.

The ministry said the British sanctions were against international rules, interfered with its internal affairs and undermined bilateral relations, and it summoned Caroline Wilson, the British ambassador to China, to protest.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab slammed the sanctions, saying that if “Beijing wants to credibly rebut claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, it should allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights full access to verify the truth”.

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Global brands face backlash in China for rejecting Xinjiang cotton

China’s sanctions targeted lawmakers, lawyers and businesses, including members of parliament Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, Tim Loughton and former transport minister Nusrat Ghani. Tugendhat and O’Brien lead the China Research Group, a hawkish group – also sanctioned – of Conservative lawmakers pushing the British government to take a harder line on China.

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