Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence Debate
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Tom Tugendhat
Main Page: Tom Tugendhat (Conservative - Tonbridge)Department Debates - View all Tom Tugendhat's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
Tom Tugendhat Excerpts(1 week ago)
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Seema Malhotra
I thank my hon. Friend for the work that he has done to support the family. Let me be clear that we see this as a politically motivated prosecution, and we believe and continue to state that Jimmy Lai should be released immediately. We will continue to work directly with the Chinese Government, raising our concerns and views in public and in private. We will continue to engage closely with the family and to work with our allies, as I have mentioned. My hon. Friend will know that the Foreign Secretary has discussed this case with Secretary Rubio, and officials are in regular contact on the matter with the US Government.
Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge) (Con)
Many of us in this House were sanctioned by China, and the Prime Minister went over and somehow managed to sell the partial un-sanctioning of a few of us as a victory. I would have welcomed a victory that was the release of Jimmy Lai, but sadly the Prime Minister conceded all his cards before getting on the plane, leaving himself nothing to negotiate with. Can the Minister find anything else that China wants that the Prime Minister could negotiate with? Maybe he could offer them the Isle of Wight or the Outer Hebrides—he is trying to give away everything else anyway. At least the job of the Prime Minister would then be to protect a British citizen—one who, as we all recognise, has been given a death sentence by the Chinese, not the Hong Kong authorities.
Seema Malhotra
Perhaps I can answer the substance of that question with a more serious response. It was important to see the progress that was made in lifting the ban on parliamentarians being free to travel to China, and what the Prime Minister said last week is absolutely right. There is more to do, and it is important to get clarity on how we move forward where those bans have not been lifted. It is very important that we continue to see that progress.