Hong Kong

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 10th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mark Field]

I thank the hon. Gentleman from the Scottish National party for his comments and I will try to answer his questions. It is obviously not my place as a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to comment on the specifics of trade deals other than to say that we will continue relentlessly to express any concerns about human rights with any country with which we are looking to strike a trade deal. That said, this is a particular circumstance because of the nature of the joint declaration. The hon. Gentleman rightly suggested that that document, which was signed by China and the United Kingdom in 1984, is now lodged with the United Nations and that is clearly one mechanism by which we could try to stand up for its terms. Back in 2016, there was a particular episode in which we thought the joint declaration was being abused and, if we feel that we are not getting the changes we are looking for on this extradition law, we will use whatever means we can.

The Hong Kong Government released a statement at 11 o’clock last night, Hong Kong time, noting the people’s right to freedom of expression and assembly, but insisting that the Bill would continue to its Second Reading on Wednesday. Chief Executive Carrie Lam reiterated that message on television this morning, again Hong Kong time, and we are obviously looking to try to ensure that the safeguards put in place over the next two or three days are as watertight as possible. However, this is an ongoing discussion and I hope the hon. Gentleman will recognise that we want to leave all our options open.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Beyond the Minister’s evident charm, what leverage do we actually have?

[Mark Field]

I thank my right hon. Friend, as ever, for his charming and succinct question. He has obviously been to the same school as you, Mr Speaker, in that regard. The reality of the situation is that there is an international agreement that was signed with the UN, and we and many other international partners take it seriously. I hope that my right hon. Friend was reassured when he heard what I had to say about our discussions with our Canadian counterparts—a significant number of Canadian nationals live and work in Hong Kong—which happened as recently as 30 May. The message that is coming out loud and clear is that, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb) said earlier, we need the international community to work together. This is clearly a crucial point in Hong Kong’s history, and our legal leverage may be more limited than we would wish, but we can maximise it by working together.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 14th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Well, we do, which is why we have some of the strictest arms export restrictions of any country in the EU; last year, 226 export requests were refused. The executions to which the hon. Gentleman referred are barbaric. I referred to them and discussed them at some length with the Saudi Foreign Minister when he came here on 25 April. This remains a human rights priority country and we do raise these issues regularly.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Is there a point where our proper concern for the Realpolitik will be overtaken by alarm at the shocking behaviour of the Kingdom?

[Mr Hunt]

There are many things that concern us about the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, and we call them out. This year, for the first time, we are hosting a ministerial-level conference on media freedom, which was in part prompted by the appalling murder of Khashoggi. We also have to recognise that we have to work with a number of countries in that region if there is to be peace and stability, and Saudi influence has been very important in the ceasefire that is beginning to take root in Yemen; it started last weekend.

Saudi Arabia: Mass Executions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 24th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Duncan]

These 37 executions will spur us to take a deep interest in not only the general concept and principle of the death penalty but individual cases. Given the robustness of the statement just issued by the European Union, I am confident that we will not be alone in making our opinions clear.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Can we have a measure of repentance about the enthusiasm with which we sponsored Saudi Arabia for the United Nations Human Rights Council?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

I am always happy to be repentant to my right hon. Friend. I am not familiar with the exact details of what he refers to, but I maintain the position that we will make our views on these issues clear in a very robust way to the Saudi Government.

Yemen

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mark Field]

I can confirm to the right hon. Lady that in my part of the world—in Asia and the Pacific—the issue that I probably spend the most time on is arms licences. All Foreign Office Ministers take that work extremely seriously. I have a strict rule in my mind that if the recommendation is to refuse, I will endorse that, but if it is to accept, I will look very carefully through the papers and will often ask for further and better particulars or will push back to refuse. That causes all sorts of day-to-day concerns with the Department for International Trade, but we do that. We take that very seriously as Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers—something I am sure she looks forward to doing at some point in the near future.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

To what extent are offensive coalition air operations continuing? What is their intensity?

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 26th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for the Middle East (Alistair Burt)]

I was in Bahrain last week, where I met the chair of the independent monitoring committee, who has taken a special interest in some of the cases that have been raised in the UK to make sure that proper human rights are available to those who have been convicted in Bahrain. We still monitor a number of cases, but I urge people to go through that independent process because we are confident that it is genuinely independent and it is making a difference to the administration of justice in Bahrain.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

T6. What difficulties face the fair and effective delivery of the £200 million that the Prime Minister has pledged to Yemen?

[Mr Hunt]

We think that that £200 million will mean that 3.7 million people get access to food they would not have otherwise had and 2 million get access to sanitation and fresh water. This will make a significant difference, but the most important thing of all would be to stop the fighting in Hodeidah to allow the Red sea mills to be opened up and food to be transported to the capital, Sana’a.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 4th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Appeasing non-compliance would increase the probability of our being vaporised in a nanosecond, would it not?

[Mark Field]

By my right hon. Friend’s standards, that was rather a long question, but let me keep the answer short. He is correct.

Venezuela

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 28th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Duncan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his concern for those who have fled. We have to recognise the extraordinary generosity of the neighbours of Venezuela, who have had to take these people on. Our scope to do an enormous amount is limited, in that we have to work largely through multilateral organisations, as this is not an area in which the Department for International Development has had much historical involvement. We cannot just turn that on a sixpence, as I well know from my time in DFID, but the UK always steps up to the plate when it comes to helping people who are in trouble. Most of all, we should applaud countries such as Colombia that have welcomed well over 1 million refugees and ensured that they have been able safely to escape the perils of remaining in Venezuela.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Though frightful for Venezuelans, this does serve as a powerful object lesson, does it not?

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mark Field]

There are obviously great concerns. As the hon. Gentleman is aware, a number of cadets were killed taking important action as human rights defenders. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe and the Americas has raised this issue at a bilateral level, and we will monitor the situation carefully.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Will the report to which my right hon. Friend has referred focus on the plight of Christian Churches in China?

[Mark Field]

It will indeed. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) speaks avidly, repeatedly, and, if I may say, persistently on this matter—and indeed extremely effectively. My right hon. Friend can be assured that we will address that along with other issues about Christian persecution across the world.

Institute for Statecraft: Integrity Initiative

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Duncan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for both what he asked and the tone in which he asked it. He has experience of these issues and I share in pretty well everything that he just said. The integrity initiative, in its activity abroad, endeavours to deliver exactly that sort of transparency to counter fake news and disinformation, in the way that I think the hon. Gentleman and all of us would hope. Indeed, the right hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury said in her opening remarks that she would support that sort of activity.

What is more, this charity is incorporated in Scotland, so it is subject to the Scottish Charity Regulator, and that kind of non-partisan activity is required. Within the UK, the charity does some automatic retweeting of stories that relate to Russia. Of course, on some occasions that includes mentions of the right hon. Leader of the Opposition; equally, there could be mention of a Conservative, as indeed has happened on many occasions. It has been judged to be no more than non-partisan repetition of stories that relate to Russia.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

I am reassured to know that we are taking on Russian misinformation. I am right to be, aren’t I?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

Yes, my right hon. Friend is right to be. The whole House should appreciate that this is an ever-increasing challenge, and one that we need to meet in the cyber field, as we do in the information field. That is what we are doing.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2018 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from Foreign and Commonwealth Office questions on 4 December 2018.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Exactly what are we signing up to at Marrakesh?

[Harriett Baldwin]

We are signing up to the global compact on refugees. I should clarify for the House that it is a different document from the one that has perhaps generated more controversy: the global compact on migration.

[Official Report, 4 December 2018, Vol. 650, c. 647.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Africa:

An error has been identified in the response I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne).

The correct response should have been:

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Exactly what are we signing up to at Marrakesh?

[Harriett Baldwin]

We are signing up to the global compact on migration. I should clarify for the House that it is a different document and has perhaps generated more controversy than the global compact on refugees.