Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Chinese Government on the health of imprisoned human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang.

The British Government has taken regular action bilaterally and multilaterally in cases involving detained human rights lawyers and activists, including the case of Wang Quanzhang. This has included raising our concerns about lawyers and activists at China’s Universal Periodic Review in November 2018, and at the last UK/China Human Rights Dialogue. Moreover, the Minister of Asia and the Pacific raised Wang Quanzhang’s case with the Chinese Government during his visit last July. The Foreign Secretary raised Wang Quanzhang’s case last July, when he met Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi; he also met with family members of detained human rights lawyers. Additionally, the Foreign Secretary released a statement on 29 January 2019, which expressed concern over the sentencing of Wang Quanzhang, and urged the Chinese government to ensure fundamental civil and political rights are protected, in line with China’s constitution and its international commitments.

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