Five British MP are among nine United Kingdom citizens on whom China has imposed sanctions for what it calls spreading ‘lies and disinformation’ about the country.
According to the BBC, the move by Beijing is in retaliation for measures taken by the British government earlier this week over human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority group.
China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.
It has denied the allegations of abuse, claiming the camps are ‘re-education’ facilities used to combat terrorism.
The nine Britons singled out by China – who are all high-profile critics of Beijing – will be banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau, their property in China will be frozen and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them.
One of the group, Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, said he would wear the sanctions ‘as a badge of honour’.
The others are Tory MPs Nusrat Ghani, Tim Loughton, Tom Tugendhat and Neil O’Brien, peers Baroness Kennedy and Lord Alton, lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the Uighur Tribunal, which is investigating atrocities against the minority group, and academic Jo Smith Finley, whose research focuses on the Uighurs.
Sir Iain was quoted as saying: ‘It is our duty to call out the Chinese government’s human rights abuses in Hong Kong and their genocide of the Uighur people. Those of us who live free lives under the rule of law must speak for those who have no voice. If that brings the anger of China down upon me then I shall wear that as a badge of honour.’
Ghani told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘This is a wake-up call for all democratic countries and law makers that we will not be able to conduct our day-to-day business without China sanctioning us for just attempting to expose what’s happening in Xinjiang and the abuse against the Uighurs.’
She added: ‘I won’t be intimidated. This has now made me even more determined to speak out about the Uighurs.’
Academic Smith Finley tweeted: ‘I have no regrets for speaking out, and I will not be silenced.’
China has imposed similar sanctions on the European Union, which was part of the co-ordinated action on Monday, along with the UK, the US and Canada.