Nine U.S. allies in Europe have summoned China’s ambassadors in protest after Beijing slapped sanctions on a dozen European officials, researchers, and institutions that have been vocal about the regime’s human rights abuses. The “sanctioning of members of Parliament and scientists is absolutely incomprehensible,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a March 23 statement after meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Berlin. “While we sanction abuses of human rights, Beijing sanctions democracy. We cannot accept this.” At least eight other countries, including France, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Italy, have also called in the Chinese envoys to register their complaints during the past two days. The Chinese measure came on the heels of coordinated Western sanctions on March 22 from the United States, the UK, Canada, and the European Union to punish Beijing’s repressive policy in Xinjiang. It marked the first of its kind that the …