China - Plenary debate on Chinese sanctions against EU citizens & bodies

Today, MEPs will debate the Chinese leadership's response to the targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights violations against the Uighur population in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, agreed by EU Foreign Ministers on 22 March. The Chinese government's response was to impose sanctions against Greens/EFA MEP and Chair of the European Parliament's China Delegation Reinhard Bütikofer, his colleagues Raphael Glucksmann, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Miriam Lexmann and Michael Gahler, as well as the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, Belgian Green MP Samuel Cogolati, MPs from the Netherlands and Lithuania and experts from think tanks such as Merics.

Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Chair of the European Parliament's China Delegation, comments:

"The European Parliament is not impressed by Chinese sanctions. China's attack on the heart of European democracy has already proven to be a misguided miscalculation and has strengthened resilience against an increasingly aggressive Chinese foreign policy. The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, or 'CAI', is in the deep freeze as far as the European Parliament is concerned, and that is where it will stay if Beijing does not move. Instead, we will put pressure to use new instruments to better protect our economy against unfair Chinese practices, be it in access to procurement markets, the fight against illegal subsidies, or against products made using forced labour. We expect the German government to speak up on China. We understand and share Berlin's hopes for cooperation on climate policy, but for the German government to say nothing about Hong Kong because of this is simply shameful and shabby."

More:

Chinese sanctions are the 2nd agenda item in today's debate starting at 15:00. The resolution is expected to be voted on in the 17-20 May plenary session. The debate can be followed live here.