Xinjiang: Uyghurs Debate
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Steve Baker
Main Page: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)Department Debates - View all Steve Baker's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Xinjiang: Uyghurs
Steve Baker Excerpts(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Nigel Adams
The hon. Lady is right to raise those particular matters. At the risk of repeating myself, let me say that we have raised this issue several times at the UN and bilaterally with China. This report, which we have seen in the past 24 hours, adds considerably to our serious concerns about what is going on in Xinjiang. It is incredibly difficult to get access, and she will be aware that the lack of NGO presence and our inability to provide support, through whichever Government Department, affects that direct contact with the Uyghur women. It is heartbreaking to read that report, which contains incredibly personal tales—we have all seen that in the past few hours—and it adds to our concerns about what is going on in Xinjiang.
Mr Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)
It is with the utmost horror that I record what is at stake in this debate: the full might of an industrialised, advanced state, with a single-party Government, appears, under a mounting body of evidence, to be seeking to eliminate from its society a section of people based on their identity—not for the first time in history. In such circumstances, speaking as someone who represents thousands of British Muslims in Wycombe, I must ask: do the Government understand that this is not an abstract and remote call for action, but something of the most profound importance to individuals and families right here in the UK?
Nigel Adams
My hon. Friend is spot on, and I know that the situation is of great concern to communities, not just in Wycombe, but across the constituencies of right hon. and hon. Members in this House. We absolutely recognise the concern that there will directly be among British citizens and residents, and, of course, this is of great concern to the UK Government, but I can assure my hon. Friend and his constituents that we will be taking a lead on this matter internationally, not just through the UN, but through whichever forums we can do so.