BEIJING: China's Foreign Ministry has summoned the head of the European Union's (EU) delegation to Beijing in protest after the bloc imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over human rights abuses against the Uighurs in Xinjiang.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials, including a top security director, for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded with its own sanctions on Europeans.

According to a  statement, the Ministry said that Nicolas Chapuis was summoned during talks on Monday after Vice Foreign Minister Qin Gang said the punitive measures were based on "lies and false information", reports DPA news agency. The sanctions are contrary to reality and reason, and the EU is not qualified to act as a human rights teacher, Qin Gang was cited as saying.

China is urging the EU to recognize the seriousness of its mistake, correct it and end the confrontation "in order to not harm Chinese-European relations any further", the statement added.

The EU sanctioned four Chinese officials and one entity in Xinjiang on Monday, targeting them with assets freezes and travel bans. They are the first such sanctions against China since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

The US, the UK and Canada followed with their own sanctions. Within hours, Beijing responded with a tit-for-tat move, imposing sanctions on 10 European lawmakers and four European institutions.

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