Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 12 July 2021 to Question 28243 on Overseas Trade: China, whether her Department plans to begin discussions on (a) state-to-state trade or (b) a Sino-British Investment deal with China while that country maintains sanctions on hon. Members, British lawyers and British academics.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government has no plans to negotiate a trade deal with China. We do not have dates for the next United Kingdom-China Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO), which is our long-established trade dialogue with China.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2021 to Question 23243 on Forced Labour, what progress has been made on convening a technical discussion with G7 partners to share data and evidence and develop recommendations based on best practices to prevent, identify, and eliminate forced labour in global supply chains.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Department for International Trade officials convened a technical discussion with G7 partners on the 7th of September to share data, evidence and develop recommendations based on best practices to prevent, identify, and eliminate forced labour in global supply chains. Experts from international and domestic organisations and the United Kingdom's Modern Slavery Envoy were invited to identify challenges and opportunities for governments. G7 members shared their respective best practices and identified areas for strengthened cooperation. G7 Trade Ministers will discuss the recommendations when they meet in October.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking in response to President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union 2021 address in which she said that the EU will propose a ban on products on its market that have been made with forced labour; and what steps she plans to take to work with President von der Leyen to help ensure that products made by force labour from Xinjiang are not sold in the UK.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government continues to keep its policy response to goods produced using forced labour under close review. We are working closely with our international partners, through the G7 trade track to ensure that global supply chains are free from the use of forced labour. G7 Trade Ministers will aim to identify areas for strengthened cooperation and collective action towards the eradication of forced labour in global supply chains in October.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2021 to Question 4244 on Overseas Trade: China, whether her Department plans to progress trade discussions with China while that country maintains sanctions on hon. Members, lawyers and academics.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
HM Government has no plans to negotiate a trade deal with China.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2021 to Question 15295 on Overseas Trade: China, what steps her Department plans to take in response to the sanctioning of hon. Members by the Chinese Government; what assessment she has made of the compatibility of the statement in that Answer that her Department's trade policy with China is rooted in the UK's values and interests with trade with that country in the context of the sanctioning of those hon. Members; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of human rights violations committed against Uyghur people in Xinjiang, China.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave her on 26th May (UIN: 5209), 7th June (UIN: 8649) and 14th June (UIN: 13118) with regard to HM Government’s response to Chinese sanctions, including on trade policy; and to those given by my Rt. hon Friend the Minister of State for Trade Policy on 24th May (UIN: 3030) and 21st June (UIN: 15295) with regard to the violations of rights in Xinjiang.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with refence to the commitment in the G7 Communique to work together including through our own available domestic means and multilateral institutions to protect individuals from forced labour and to ensure that global supply chains are free from the use of forced labour, what steps his Department has taken since the G7 to implement that commitment.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
G7 Trade Ministers aim to identify areas for strengthened cooperation towards the eradication of forced labour in global supply chains when they meet again in October.
We are convening a technical discussion with G7 partners to share data and evidence and develop recommendations based on best practices to prevent, identify, and eliminate forced labour in global supply chains ahead of the meeting.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with her European counterparts on freezing trade or bilateral trade discussions with China following the sanctions placed on hon. Members of Parliament and the EU's freezing of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
China’s attempt to silence those highlighting violations of human rights in Xinjiang is unwarranted and unacceptable. The Prime Minister has made clear that the freedom to speak out in opposition to human rights violations is fundamental and HM Government stands firmly with those who have been sanctioned. Whilst the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment is a matter for the EU, the United Kingdom will continue to work alongside the EU and other partners to send the clearest possible signal of the international community’s serious concern and our collective willingness to act.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, which (a) organisations, (b) Government departments, (c) Non-Governmental Organisations and (d) others attended the roundtables on forced labour in Xinjiang in March 2021.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 24 May, UIN: 3032.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to Answer of 14 June 2021 to Question 13118 on Trade Agreements, whether it is her policy to increase bilateral trade with China.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our approach to China remains clear-eyed and rooted in our values and our interests. We will pursue a positive economic relationship with China, including through mutually beneficial trade, whilst adhering to our values.
China is an authoritarian state with different values to the UK. The UK consistently acts on matters on which we do not agree, including human rights. In January 2021, the government announced measures to ensure UK businesses are not complicit in human rights violations against Uyghur people in Xinjiang.
We are committed to making the global trading system free and fair. We will call out unfair trading practices wherever they arise. Some market-distorting economic practices undermine the functioning of the global trading system and prevent free and fair trade. It is in everyone’s interest, including China’s, to see this system strengthened.
Asked by: Nusrat Ghani (Conservative - Wealden)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 7th June 2021 to Question 8649 on Trade Agreements, what impact, if any, sanctions placed upon Members of the UK Parliament by the People’s Republic of China have had on trade policy.
Answered by Ranil Jayawardena
The Prime Minister has made clear that the freedom of Parliamentarians to speak out in opposition to violations of rights and responsibilities is fundamental, and that is why HM Government stands firmly with all those who have been sanctioned.
Our approach to China is rooted in our values and interests. We want a mutually beneficial trading relationship, but we will not sacrifice our values, and we have no plans to negotiate a trade deal with China.