Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what benefits for Tibet have been achieved by the change of the Government's position on its status.

On 29 October 2008, the then Foreign Secretary (David Miliband) clarified the Government’s position on Tibet to the House, stating that: ‘our interest is in long-term stability, which can only be achieved through respect for human rights and greater autonomy for the Tibetans’. That remains the view of this Government. For our assessment of the current human rights situation in China, including Tibet, I refer the Hon. Member to the 2015 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy, published on 21 April.