Nov 21
Beijing Sanctions VOC Senior Fellow Dr. Adrian Zenz in Retaliation for European Sanctions
In response to the European Union sanctions against Beijing for its human rights violations in Xinjiang, on Monday the Chinese Communist Party retaliated with sanctions against leading European individuals and institutions.
For the first time since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, the European Union announced that it was sanctioning Beijing on the basis of its human rights violations in Xinjiang. The United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States all followed suit in a powerful demonstration of transatlantic unity against Beijing’s genocidal campaign targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities.
Instead of addressing the grave concerns raised by the international community on its human rights record, Beijing continued its denial of the abuses and retaliated with sanctions against European officials, institutions, and researchers—including VOC Senior Fellow Dr. Adrian Zenz—that the Chinese Communist Party stated “severely harm China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and disinformation.”
The sanctions against Dr. Zenz follow the lawsuit that CCP-backed courts filed against Dr. Zenz earlier this month for his work on the issue of forced labor in Xinjiang claiming his report “led to economic losses after the United States banned cotton imports from Xinjiang.”
Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Chairman and Acting CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation said, “We commend the European Union for standing against Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang by sanctioning the officials responsible in coordination with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The free world must continue to stand against the tyranny of Beijing and expose its abuses of universal values and norms.”
