On Tuesday, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest Beijing’s sanctions against MP Dovilė Šakalienė and other EU citizens.
"The ambassador was reminded that [the] Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels had decided to impose restrictive measures” on several Chinese citizens for “serious human rights violations and abuses”, according to a statement issued by the ministry.
"The ambassador was also reminded that the protection of human rights was a long-term goal of Lithuania’s foreign policy and a priority of this government, and that China was urged to address the human rights violations instead of imposing countermeasures," it said.
In response to EU sanctions on Chinese citizens responsible for human rights abuses, Beijing has imposed retaliatory sanctions on European diplomats and politicians, including Lithuanian MP Šakalienė who co-chairs the Interparliamentary Alliance on China.
Read more: Three Lithuanian diplomats targeted by China's sanctions
The blacklist announced on Monday also includes several members of the European Parliament, members of the Belgian and Dutch parliaments, and scientists who have all been barred entry to China.
Šakalienė, a member of the Social Democratic party, told BNS that Beijing's retaliatory sanctions show that the EU’s principled position has an effect on China.
Human rights advocates claim that at least one million Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are being detained in so-called re-education camps in China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang.
Observers say such facilities are part of a government campaign to forcibly assimilate ethnic minorities, and include using torture and forced labor.
Mass rapes and the forced sterilisation of women are also alleged to have taken place in the camps.
Read more: Lithuanian MP blacklisted by China in retaliation for EU's sanctions
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