Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Nigel Adams and Robbie Moore(4 years, 2 months ago)
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The Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams)
We have been clear that the national security law has had a chilling effect on society and that it constitutes a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British joint declaration. It contains a range of measures that directly threaten the freedoms and rights protected by the joint declaration. In response to the national security law, the UK has offered a new immigration path for British nationals, suspended our extradition treaty and extended our arms embargo on mainland China to Hong Kong. We urge the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations.
Robbie Moore
In July, books by pro-democracy figures were removed from public libraries, and just last week Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said that it was important to
“weed out the bad apples”
from the education system in response to a teacher “promoting Hong Kong independence”. Does my hon. Friend agree that the UK reserves the right to take further action to safeguard the rights of those in Hong Kong, especially if the human rights situation continues to deteriorate further?
Nigel Adams
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have taken clear action in response to the national security law, including, as I said, offering a new immigration path for British national overseas passport holders, suspending our extradition treaty and extending our arms embargo on mainland China to Hong Kong. We will continue to bring together our international partners to ensure that we stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their freedoms and to hold China to its international obligations.
Xinjiang: Uyghurs
Debate between Nigel Adams and Robbie Moore(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Nigel Adams
I thank the hon. Lady for her question. We have always been very clear-eyed about the challenge posed by Huawei. She will be aware that, following the US announcement of additional sanctions against that company, the National Cyber Security Centre has been looking carefully at any impact that it could have on the UK’s networks. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has received that advice and will respond in due course. She is right to raise serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang.
Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)
The reports we are hearing via media outlets that China is using the concept of guilt by association linked to religious belief to incriminate and detain whole extended family networks in Xinjiang are deeply troubling. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to combat China’s aggression against the Uyghur Muslim community and others and to address the lack of fulfilment of China’s human rights obligations?
Nigel Adams
I know that this is very important to my hon. Friend’s constituents in Keighley, and he is right to raise that. We are absolutely committed to promoting human rights in Xinjiang. As I have mentioned on several occasions, our continued multilateral and bilateral activity with China demonstrates that. At the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, we raised our concerns about systematic violations of human rights and the reports of forced labour during our item 4 statement. When the Foreign Secretary met his counterpart, Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, on 9 March, he raised our concerns about the human rights situation.