Published 14:01 IST, July 25th 2020
Chinese mouthpiece calls EU's measures 'only symbolic'; says bloc acting under US pressure
Global Times claimed that EU's measures were only 'symbolic' hinting that they would not translate into productive actions against the Communist regime
As the European Union (EU) joins other nations in a global crackdown against China, state-backed mouthpiece Global Times claimed that EU's measures were only 'symbolic' hinting that they would not translate into productive actions against the Communist regime.
China's panic comes shortly after the Members of Parliament with the European Union (MEPs) wrote to the European Union (EU) demanding a detailed United Nations-led investigation into the alleged human rights abuses and conducts against Uighur Muslims in China's Xinjiang province.
Along with this, the EU has also been allegedly preparing 'countermeasures' against China in response to the national security law in Hong Kong. Foreign agencies have also reported that Sweden has extended its support to France and Germany in their efforts to launch a strong response to China's security law for Hong Kong. Along with this, EU nations such as Denmark and the Netherlands have also been pushing the bloc to consider countermeasures against Beijing.
"Even if implemented, those measures would only be symbolic, with no significant harm to Beijing," claimed GT quoting 'observers and experts'.
"The EU is now gradually realizing the importance of the bloc's strategic independence, as it has seen that it only has itself to rely on when attacked by non-traditional security issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, without assistance from the US," GT quoted Wang Yiwei, a professor at the University of China, claiming that EU was under pressure by the US due to the latter's trade war with China.
EU requests UN probe
The EU has called on member states to consider imposing a Global Human Rights Sanctions Mechanism against Chinese government officials found to be guilty of involvement. In the letter the MEPs wrote to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy as well as the Vice-President of the Commission Mr Josep Borrell Fontelles, saying that China's discriminatory laws such as State-ordered birth prevention (one-child policy) and continuous dehumanising treatment of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang are a matter of grave concern to the members and as such the dire human rights situation should be investigated, especially in the case of Xinjiang and Hong Kong, with the implementation of the new Security Law.
Updated 14:01 IST, July 25th 2020