Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations (a) he has and (b) officials of his Department have made to the Government of China on abolishing the death penalty in that country in the last 12 months.

Recent discussions with the Chinese authorities in China on human rights have focused on the situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, which the Foreign Secretary has raised directly with his Chinese counterpart. However, we have urged the Chinese authorities on many occasions to reduce their use of capital punishment, in line with global trends. The UK Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.