The European Union (EU) has agreed to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses.<br />''It is the first sanctions against Beijing since an EU arms embargo in 1989 following the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The 1989 EU arms embargo on China, its second-largest trade partner, is still in place.<br />''<br />''EU ambassadors approved the travel bans and asset freezes on four Chinese individuals and one entity today.<br />''While the sanctions are mainly symbolic, the adoption marks a significant hardening in the EU's policy towards China.<br />''EU diplomats said the Chinese officials were accused of human rights abuses against China's Uighur Muslim minority.<br />''<br />''On Twitter, the Chinese mission to the EU Zhang Ming said that Beijing would not change its policies as sanctions are confrontational.<br />''The Chinese mission said on Twitter that they want dialogue, not confrontation and asked the EU side to think twice over the decision.<br />''<br />''China denies any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and says its camps provide vocational training and are needed to fight extremism.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The EU has also called for the release of jailed ethnic Uighur economics professor Ilham Tohti, who was jailed for life in 2014. He was awarded the European Parliament's human rights prize in 2019.</span><br />