‘Sanctions are a slander to the dignity of Chinese people’

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi exchange documents, on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

China on Tuesday said it summoned foreign diplomats in protest after the United States, the European Union, Canada and Britain jointly imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in China's far western Xinjiang region.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Tuesday called the new sanctions a "slander and an affront to the reputation and dignity of the Chinese people." "I admonish them that they should not underestimate the firm determination of the Chinese people to defend their national interests and dignity, and they will pay the price for their folly and arrogance," Hua told reporters at a daily briefing.

That came hours after the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers denounced new wave criticism and sanctions against both countries over human rights. At a news conference in the southern Chinese city of Nanning, China's Wang Yi and Russia's Sergei Lavrov rejected outside critiques of their authoritarian political systems and said they were working to further global progress on issues from climate change to the Coronavirus pandemic.

"Countries should stand together to oppose all forms of unilateral sanctions," Wang said. "These measures will not be embraced by the international community."

Russia is also under Western sanctions over human rights abuses and military aggression against Ukraine. Lavrov said Russia's ties with China grew stronger as Moscow's relations with the EU suffered damage, while accusing the West of "imposing their o wn rules on everyone else, which they believe should underpin the world order."

China slaps sanctions on EU officials
In a retaliatory move, China has imposed sanctions against 10 individuals and four entities of the European Union (EU), saying they had severely harmed Beijing's "sovereignty and interests and maliciously spread lies and disinformation". The US, Canada, the UK and the EU on Monday imposed sanctions against Chinese officials.

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