MEP calls for ban on Xinjiang cotton after he’s sanctioned by China

China's human rights record has come under attack and is an issue in trade deals with the US and EU

Sarah Collins

April 10 2021 02:30 AM

The EU should impose a US-style ban on cotton imports from the Xinjiang region of China, a leading MEP has said.

Germany’s Reinhard Bütikofer, the chair of the European Parliament’s China delegation, was slapped with sanctions by Beijing just two weeks ago, and says human rights abuses against the Uighur people in Xinjiang are “wrecking” relations between China and the rest of the world.

“Products of forced labour are an insult to everybody who stands for human rights, but it’s also wrecking economic relations, so we should have a ban on the importation of products of forced labour, similar to the legislation that is being debated in the United States.

“These are autonomous measures that the EU can take to balance some of the imbalances and to create a more level playing field.”

Although the EU has placed sanctions on some Xinjiang officials, it is not looking at going down the US route of labelling what is happening to the Uighur people as a genocide.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said the EU and US are not on the same page on the matter.

It puts Ireland in a difficult situation, said Pádraig Murphy, a senior fellow at the Institute of International and European Affairs.

“We are more exposed than anyone else when it comes to that because of our relationship to the US. The trade and investment relationship we have with the US is far more important than any relations we have with China.”

Mr Bütikofer, a member of Germany’s Green party, also said that the recent EU-China investment deal, signed in principle in December, is “dead” as a result of the sanctions.

"I would say that the investment deal at the moment looks dead like a doornail. It’s hardly conceivable that the European Parliament would, any time soon, put this matter on its agenda to possibly ratify the deal while it is still under sanctions from the Chinese side.”

He said the sanctions have given him “an even bigger platform” politically, and allowed him to build alliances with politicians in other countries, who have also been targets of Chinese ire.

“I don’t think that their efforts have been very successful,” he said. “I think they are rather shooting themselves in the foot.”