Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Chinese government on land reclamation and construction activities in the Spratly Islands archipelago; and if he will make a statement.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), expressed our concerns about developments in the South China Sea, including over land reclamation and construction activities, when he met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang on 10 June. We will continue to make our concerns known. I refer my right hon. Friend to the Foreign Secretary’s comments to the House on 1 June 2015, Official Report, columns 312-314.