Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to encourage China to (a) ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and (b) uphold commitments under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

As UN member states, both the UK and China have a responsibility to uphold core pillars of the UN, including universal human rights. We continue to encourage China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to uphold the various international obligations they have freely signed up to.

We raise our concerns at the highest levels: the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor, Energy Secretary and I all raised human rights recently with our Chinese counterparts. We also continue to work closely with our international partners to hold China to account for human rights violations. For example, joining a statement led by Australia on Xinjiang and Tibet at the UN General Assembly in October.