UK–China Economic and Financial Strategy Dialogue

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. Yes, I reassure her that there absolutely were. The UK Government will stand firm on human rights in China and will continue to raise concerns at the highest level of the Chinese Government. In all our engagements with the Chinese Government, we continue to challenge them robustly on human rights violations and continue to raise our concerns at the highest level of the Government. The Prime Minister did so at his meeting at the G20 with President Xi and the Chancellor also raised concerns in a number of areas, including the case of British national Jimmy Lai, the restrictions on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong, human rights abuses and forced labour.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe (Lab)]

Given that climate change knows no boundaries and that there is a change of policy taking place in the USA in that regard, does the Minister see the possibility of us having more dialogue with China in this context as a way forward?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his question. Our journey towards net zero will remain vital for our energy security in this country, as well as our economic growth, so that will absolutely continue to play an important part in our economic policy. China will of course be part of that in how we move forward together, both in terms of its own journey towards net zero and in how it can help our journey towards net zero.