Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the (a) the Chinese Government, (b) the international community and (c) UK businesses on the treatment of Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

The UK has played a leading international role in holding China to account for its human rights violations in Xinjiang. Most recently, in October, alongside Germany we brought together a total of 39 countries to express grave concern at the situation in Xinjiang in a joint statement at the UN Third Committee. We have engaged more than 50 countries on this issue in recent months. The Foreign Secretary has raised our serious concerns directly with his Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi on a number of occasions this year. FCDO officials regularly engage business and other stakeholders including trade bodies to raise awareness of China's human rights violations, and underline our view that businesses must take steps to ensure their supply chains are free of forced labour. We continue to urge all UK businesses to conduct due diligence on their supply chains and are taking steps to strengthen supply chain transparency under the Modern Slavery Act.