North East academic on sanctions list from China

A NEWCASTLE University academic is among the people who have been hit with sanctions by China.

A number of British institutions and MPs, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, have been sanctioned by China in response to similar moves by the UK over the treatment of people in Xinjiang.

Britain, the US, Canada and the European Union on Monday slapped sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in the country’s autonomous north-west territory.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced a package of travel bans and asset freezes against four senior officials and the state-run Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau.

The Foreign Secretary said the abuse of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang was “one of the worst human rights crises of our time” and the international community “cannot simply look the other way”.

But China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that the move by Mr Raab was “based on nothing but lies and disinformation, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs, and severely undermines China-UK relations”.

The ministry said it had sanctioned nine people and four British institutions “that maliciously spread lies and disinformation”.

They include Dr Jo Smith Finley, a reader in Chinese studies at Newcastle University since January 2000.

Dr Smith Finley writes opinion pieces for the media and gives frequent interviews to investigative journalists, news correspondents and documentary film-makers.

Dr Smith Finley wrote on Twitter: “It seems I am to be sanctioned...for speaking the truth about the Uyghur tragedy in Xinjiang, and for having a conscience. Well, so be it. I have no regrets for speaking out, and I will not be silenced.”