EU ambassadors approved the renewal of sanctions on four Chinese officials and one Chinese entity on Wednesday as part of an extension of a human rights blacklist, two diplomats said.

The decision, which will formally be adopted early next month, puts in jeopardy a Chinese-EU investment agreement signed in late December 2020.

China’s envoy to the bloc said there could be no ratification of the deal until the EU lifted its sanctions, which Beijing sees as internal interference. The EU added the 4 Chinese officials, including a top security director, to its sanctions list in March over accusations of human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. Beijing responded with its own sanctions on Europeans.

The EU’s sanctions on China are the first significant “restrictive measures” since an EU arms embargo in 1989.

Accused of mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs, those targeted by the EU include Chen Mingguo, the director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. The EU said Chen was responsible for serious rights violations.

The entity sanctioned was the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau.