China's decision to remove the sanctions comes as a rapprochement is under way between the EU and China, since US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Beijing in early April.
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China has lifted sanctions it imposed on five European Union lawmakers in 2021, the EU parliament said on Wednesday.
The sanctions were imposed in retaliation against alleged persecution of the Uyghur Muslims who live in China's far western region of Xinjiang.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola was at the helm of negotiations to lift the sanctions, a development which comes as tensions between the EU and China have been easing since US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Beijing in April.
In a statement informing senior lawmakers of the breakthrough, Metsola said "our relationship with China remains complex and multi-faceted. The best way to approach it is through engagement and dialogue."
The sanctions were part of a series of measures implemented by Beijing in 2021, in response to coordinated sanctions which the EU, the UK, Canada and the United States imposed against Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses against the Uyhgurs.
Five EU lawmakers were among the 10 European politicians and four bodies who were accused of "maliciously spreading lies and disinformation" and "grossly interfering in China's internal affairs."
Michael Gahler, Raphael Glucksmann, Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Miriam Lexmann, as well as Reinhard Butikofer, who is no longer a member of the parliament, were sanctioned by China.
They were banned from entering Chinese territory — a move which led the parliament to halt all official dialogue with China and hold up an investment deal that EU lawmakers had been due to endorse.
Despite this, the sanctions did not deter EU lawmakers from condemning China and the treatment of Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim minority native to Xinjiang.
Following the announcement, senior lawmakers insisted that Beijing’s move "does not mean the European Parliament will overlook persistent challenges in EU-China relations," and vowed that the assembly will "remain a strong defender" of human rights.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China responded to the lifting of sanctions with a firm warning, "to be clear, the removal of some sanctions by the totalitarian regime doesn’t constitute a favour that warrants concessions from the EU."
The Uyghurs are a Turkic, majority Muslim ethnicity native to Xinjiang. After decades of conflict over suppression of their cultural identity, Beijing allegedly launched a brutal crackdown on the Uyghurs that some Western governments deem a genocide.
China claims its measures, which included vocational training centres, were an attempt to stamp out extremism and prevent terrorist attacks.