Overseas Trade: China

(asked on 14th June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to Answer of 14 June 2021 to Question 13118 on Trade Agreements, whether it is her policy to increase bilateral trade with China.


Answered by
Greg Hands Portrait
Greg Hands
Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
This question was answered on 21st June 2021

Our approach to China remains clear-eyed and rooted in our values and our interests. We will pursue a positive economic relationship with China, including through mutually beneficial trade, whilst adhering to our values.

China is an authoritarian state with different values to the UK. The UK consistently acts on matters on which we do not agree, including human rights. In January 2021, the government announced measures to ensure UK businesses are not complicit in human rights violations against Uyghur people in Xinjiang.

We are committed to making the global trading system free and fair. We will call out unfair trading practices wherever they arise. Some market-distorting economic practices undermine the functioning of the global trading system and prevent free and fair trade. It is in everyone’s interest, including China’s, to see this system strengthened.

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