UPDATED: EU agrees China sanctions over Xinjiang abuses; first in three decades

European Union foreign ministers formally agreed on Monday to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses, one EU diplomat said, the first sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The ministers approved the travel bans and asset freezes on four Chinese individuals and one entity, accusing them of rights abuses against China’s Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

EU envoys had pre-approved the measures last week.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials and a construction company for human rights abuses against the mainly Muslim Uighur community in Xijiang, the first such punitive measures on Beijing since 1989.

According to the EU’s Official Journa, the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, as well as on senior Chinese officials Wang Mingshan and Wang Junzheng. The former head of China’s Xinjiang region, Zhu Hailun, was also targeted.

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau was targeted with sanctions, the EU said.