Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) Chinese government and (b) Hong Kong government on democracy and freedom of expression; and what the outcome of those discussions was.

Most recently, on 14 October, I met Hong Kong’s Secretary of Justice, to discuss the situation in Hong Kong. On 6 October, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed these issues with the Chinese Ambassador. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) and the Foreign Secretary, also discussed Hong Kong in recent meetings with Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials have regular contacts on this issue with representatives from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government and Chinese Central People’s Government. During these discussions, the Government has consistently expressed the view that Hong Kong’s future is best served by a transition to universal suffrage, in line with the Basic Law, which meets the aspirations of the people of Hong Kong and offers them a genuine choice. Both the Chinese Central People’s Government and the Hong Kong SAR Government have made clear that their objective remains to achieve universal suffrage in Hong Kong.