Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of allegations of the brainwashing of Muslims in internment programmes in China.

​We are aware of reports of significant numbers of individuals being detained by the Chinese authorities in re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Our Embassy in Beijing has not been able to directly verify these reports: however my officials will continue to monitor the situation in Xinjiang closely.

We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in China, particularly in Xinjiang. We raised our concerns with the Chinese authorities at the last UK/China Human Rights Dialogue, which took place in Beijing in June 2017. We will seek to raise them again at the next UK/China Human Rights Dialogue, which is due to take place later this year.