Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make it his policy to remove all streams of Official Development Assistance from his Department to the People's Republic of China.

The UK ended traditional bilateral aid programmes to China in 2011. As the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated, global challenges need global solutions, and we recognise that China has to be part of them as a major driver of global growth with increasing presence on the global stage. We now offer China expertise and skills to help tackle global issues like climate change, where action by China is critical to reaching our global climate goals, as well as using ODA to fund the ODA eligible portion of the costs of UK diplomatic staff in China, Chinese Chevening scholars and the British Council's ODA eligible activity in China.

As the Foreign Secretary stated to Parliament on 20 July, the UK wants a positive and constructive relationship with China. There are wide-ranging opportunities, from increasing trade to cooperation on climate change. However, where we have concerns, we raise them and where we need to take action we will.