Hong Kong National Security Legislation

Debate between Dominic Raab and Philippa Whitford

Wednesday 1st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend, the Chairman of the Liaison Committee, for that. He makes a range of important points. On Chinese expertise, I do not think the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster was referring to the Foreign Office. In any event, I can provide the reassurance that we have some of the finest Mandarin-speaking diplomats around the world and we are exceptionally well represented in Beijing by Her Majesty’s ambassador, Dame Barbara Woodward. We are increasingly, across Government, looking at all aspects of our relationship with China. Obviously, the House is interested in and will know about Huawei. My hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat), the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is no longer in his place, referred to the situation in universities, and rightly raised the question, as, in fairness, did the hon. Member for Wigan, about an integrated strategy. Clearly, as we bring forward the integrated review, China’s role in the world and our relationship with China will be an essential element of that, and that work is already under way.

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP) [V]]

China’s national security law completely undermines previous agreements on the status of Hong Kong and those who live there. It is a threat to judicial independence and freedom of the press, as well as to political, civil and human rights. Given Huawei’s ties to the Chinese state, instead of a long, tedious review of the 5G contract, will the Government not take a stand now and cancel it?

[Dominic Raab]

I certainly share the hon. Lady’s views on our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong and our concern about their treatment. In relation Huawei, as I have already said to the House, given the US sanctions, it is currently under review by the National Cyber Security Centre. We will come forward with our response in due course.

Covid-19

Debate between Dominic Raab and Philippa Whitford

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend for the way in which he has raised his question. The insurance industry makes its decisions in a commercial way, and obviously we and the Transport Secretary are liaising very closely with it, but certainly the call has been made to the Foreign Office to give as clear advice as possible. So we are advising, not least with the Easter holidays coming up, against all but essential travel globally. We are not going to make decisions for individual people, families or schools, but it seems to me that those are the kinds of trips that would now have to be looked at, and we would expect the insurance and the airline industries to follow, based on that very clear advice that we have now given.

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

The Foreign Secretary mentioned that the Government have been consulting with the G7, but they have not been consulting with European Governments through the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. May I ask: apart from ideological reasons, why not? It is very concerned that the focus here has been on behavioural science and not on epidemiology.

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Lady asks a perfectly reasonable question. May I reassure her that we are taking the best scientific advice that we have got in the UK? The circumstances in different countries will change. Part of that is about the timing and the peak within which coronavirus hits an individual country. She talked about co-operation with EU partners. I am consistently on the phone talking to all our European partners about all these issues, whether that is the multilateral drive to tackle coronavirus with support for vulnerable countries, research and development, or the particular logistical issues with getting constituents home. The diplomacy with our European friends has never been more intense.