China UK Photo:VCG
China’s countermeasure of sanctioning nine UK individuals and four entities was a reciprocal measure based on evidence and an equal relation with nations that the West must get used to, Chinese analysts and sources said, warning that more countermeasures are on the way against some lawyers in the UK who have colluded with overseas anti-China organizations, and Canadian parliament members who led the Xinjiang-related motions.
China on Friday hit back after the UK's unilateral move of sanctioning Chinese individuals and entities over Xinjiang affairs, with countermeasures of sanctioning nine UK individuals and four entities including its chairman of the foreign affairs committee Tom Tugendhat and other MPs and scholars who have spread lies and rumors about China's Xinjiang region, and some major think tanks that have played infamous roles in the matter.
The individuals concerned and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao. Their properties in China will be frozen, and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them. China reserves the right to take further measures.
The foreign affairs committee has launched unreasonable inquiries into Xinjiang affairs citing "forced labor," and is behind many foreign policies coercing China over Xinjiang. Tugendhat had referred to non-existent "massive detentions of Uygurs" as "echoes of the 1930s."
The China Research Group, which many of the sanctioned individuals are connected with, is a newly set clique which includes conservative MPs and some researchers. The aim of the group is to urge the UK government to take a tougher stance on China.
Essex Court Chambers, after consulting secessionist terrorist organization World Uyghur Congress (WUC), authored a legal opinion concluding that China's policies in Xinjiang constitute "genocide."
Zhu Ying, deputy director of the National Human Rights Education and Training Base of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Friday that the sanctions that China imposed on the British MPs and entities are very targeted, and normally were based on evidence and facts that they proposed anti-China motions or legislations or made unreasonable demands to our embassies abroad without any facts.
Their behavior is a serious interference in China's internal affairs and sovereignty, which is completely detrimental to the normal diplomacy between the two countries, Zhu said.
A source close to the matter told the Global Times that China has obtained solid evidence of some British lawyers colluding with anti-China organizations, and will target them for future countermeasures.
Rodney Dixon, the lawyer of two anti-China organizations “East Turkistan Government-in-Exile” and “East Turkistan National Awakening Movement,” and Michael Polak, another UK-based lawyer who represents the WUC, are likely to be sanctioned by China, the source said, noting that they have collected the related evidence for two years and have submitted it to related government.
China is also preparing for sanctions against some Canadian parliament members, such as Michael Chong who introduced a Xinjiang-related motion, the source said.
Sanctions and counter-sanctions between China and the West will last for a long time, including on Hong Kong and other issues, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times, noting that through those countermeasures, China aimed at completely reversing the situation that Western countries have been wantonly interfering in China's internal affairs through the so-called "human rights issue."
Through those countermeasures, China is attempting to establish a new model and rules for exchanges with Britain, Cui said, “The previous state of concealment and disguise has faded away, just open the window and tell the truth.”
Cui said that the ball is in Britain's court, and it’s an opportunity to test the UK government's balanced policy towards China.
He Zhigao, a research fellow with the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that once the sanctions against each other start, they will hardly end, and the conflicts between China and the UK will last for a long time.
“The Boris government will find it more and more difficult to strike a balance between China’s politics and economy, as the UK is losing its diplomatic independence. Moreover, some UK MPs or anti-China forces are anticipated to impose pressure on the government. Therefore, future China-UK relations not only depend on the coordination between Europe and the US, but also the policy coordination within the UK,” said He.
As for whether the tit-for-tat sanctions will intensify conflicts between China and the West, Zhu said that the West has used to that they could sanction others while others can not hit back, but it’s time for the West to get used to reciprocal measures, as it’s an equal bilateral relation.
Zhu stressed that China’s countermeasures are not retaliatory, as China didn't do any pre-emptive sanctions and all the countermeasures are applied on the basis of facts and evidence.
Zhu said China is also setting up a fine example for other developing countries that we have to raise our voice of justice in face of bullying and unreasonable sanctions.