Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they have, and what representations they have made, about the arrest in China of human rights lawyers, including Li Fangping, and Christian lawyers, including Li Heping and Zhang Kai.

We are concerned by reports of the detention of a number of human rights lawyers and activists since 9 July. We are also deeply concerned that many of those detained cannot be contacted.

We have regular discussions with the Chinese authorities, including on human rights and rule of law issues. We have raised our concerns about ongoing restrictions on civil society activity in China, including during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in April. We support the EU statement of 15 July on these detentions.