Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Chinese Government on the demolition of the Golden Lampstand Protestant Church in Linfen City, China, in early January 2017.

We are aware of reports of the demolition of this place of Christian worship and my officials continue to monitor such incidents closely. We have not discussed this specific incident with the Chinese authorities.

We remain concerned about restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in China and reports of the destruction of places of worship. We raised our concerns over restrictions on freedom of religion or belief directly with the Chinese authorities at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in Beijing on 27 June 2017. We also issued an Item IV statement at the 35th UN Human Rights Council in the same month reiterating our concerns. We will continue to raise these concerns about human rights with the Chinese authorities at every opportunity.