Oral Answers to Questions

Maria Caulfield Excerpts

Tuesday 26th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

4. What steps his Department is taking to help tackle the persecution of Christians overseas.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

7. What recent discussions he has had with his counterpart in China on the persecution of Christians in that country.

[Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con)]

22. What steps his Department is taking to help tackle the persecution of Christians overseas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hunt]

It is often because they are in the grip of totally misguided ideologies. I thank my hon. Friend for his long championing of this issue. It is a little known fact that around 80% of the people who suffer persecution for their faith are Christians, often in some of the poorest countries in the world—and particularly in the middle east, which 100 years ago had a population that was about 20% Christian. Now that is down to 5%.

[Maria Caulfield]

Given that a third of Christians in China and Asia are experiencing high-level persecution—that is 140 million people—what discussions have the Government had with the Chinese to end that? What protection can the Government give those Christians facing persecution?

[Mr Hunt]

We do all we can to raise these issues. I raised freedom of religion issues with my counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, when I went to China last August. We raised them in November in the Universal Periodic Review—a regular review of human rights issues in China. The noble Lord Ahmad is in Geneva this week for the UN Human Rights Council, where he will also be raising the issue of freedom of religion in China. My hon. Friend is right to be concerned.