Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the recent deaths of (a) Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, (b) Peng Ming, political prisoner, and (c) other human rights defenders and political dissidents.

​We are concerned by reliable reports that a number of human rights defenders have died whilst in custody and of allegations that some have been denied access to medical treatment of their choice. We look to the Chinese authorities to provide details of the circumstances surrounding their deaths. My officials in the UK and across the China network regularly seek and receive information from a wide variety of sources on this issue.

As my Rt Hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary stated on 13 July 2017, we were deeply saddened to hear of the death of Liu Xiaobo. Our thoughts continue to be with his widow, Liu Xia, his wider family, friends and supporters.

We raised our concerns directly with the Chinese authorities at the last round of the UK/China Human Rights Dialogue which took place in Beijing on 27 June 2017.