The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on Tuesday reiterated their serious concerns regarding human rights abuses in China, particularly the persecution of the Uyghur minority in the province of Xinjiang.
This comes after Beijing imposed retaliatory sanctions following the European Council's decision to impose sanctions on four Chinese officials and one entity.
Condemning the retaliatory sanctions, the MEPs slammed the Chinese government's attempts to "interfere in the democratic life of our nations and our European Union".
"The Subcommittee on Human Rights has a duty to monitor the human rights situation across the world and to promote and protect these rights in accordance with the values and objectives on which the European Union is founded, namely, the principle of universality of human rights. We believe that China's measures aim is to undermine our work," the statement said.
"We wish to express our solidarity with other parliamentarians, European universities, think tanks and academics who have also been targeted by these sanctions," the statement added.
The MEPs asserted that they will continue to actively denounce human rights violations and breaches of international law, and to urge the European Union (EU) to keep the respect of human rights at the core of all its external policies.
The statement is co-signed by David McAllister (EPP, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee; Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium), Chair of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights; Raphael Glucksmann (S&D, France), Chair of the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation and Reinhard Butikofer (The Greens/EFA, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with the People's Republic of China.
( With inputs from ANI )
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