Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s aid relationship with China.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We stopped direct government-to-government aid to the Chinese Government in 2011. In a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS) in April 2021, the FCDO committed to cut Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded programmes in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year, which it has delivered. All new ODA programme funding has been limited to supporting our open societies and human rights objectives in China.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his counterparts in China on the treatment of Falun Gong practitioners.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We remain deeply concerned about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and others on the grounds of their religion or belief in China. The environment for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) across China is restrictive, which includes the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. The British government works with international organisations and networks to promote and protect the freedom of religion or belief for all where it is threatened, including through the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance. The Foreign Secretary set out his concerns about human rights violations in China during his introductory call with China's Foreign Minister on 5 December 2023.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of continuing to send Foreign Aid to China.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In April 2021, the FCDO committed to cut Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded programmes in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year. Since then, all new ODA programming in China supports activities that further our human rights objectives, for example on LGBTQ+ or disability rights. In addition to programme spend, FCDO ODA to China includes other types of spend counted as ODA, such as Chevening scholarships. The FCDO also spends non-ODA funding furthering our China human rights objectives, including research into Xinjiang and Tibet. The UK stopped direct aid to the Chinese Government in 2011.
Oct. 27 2023
Source Page: South China Sea conference 2023: speech by the UK Minister for the Indo-PacificFound: South China Sea conference 2023: speech by the UK Minister for the Indo-Pacific
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of Chinese Communist Party re-education classes for Catholic priests in the Inner Mongolia region.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government continues to monitor the persecution of religious groups in China, including Christians. The freedom to practice, change or share one's faith or belief without discrimination is a human right that all people should enjoy.
The space for religious freedom in China continues to deteriorate. For example, recent new Measures on the Administration of Religious Activity Venues legislation includes widespread restrictions on religious practice such as requirements for priests to conduct sermons promoting core socialist values and Xi Jinping Thought.
The British government works with international organisations and networks to promote and protect freedom of religion or belief for all where it is threatened. This includes work through the UN, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2023 to Question 5400 on Visas: China, what the average waiting time for an appointment at a UK Visa Application Centre in China was in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The global service level is for UK visa appointments to be available within five working days. The average Visa Application Centre (VAC) appointment wait times for China for the last 12 months were:
Month | Average Wait time for China |
Dec-22 | 3 |
Jan-23 | 3 |
Feb-23 | 3 |
Mar-23 | 3 |
Apr-23 | 3 |
May-23 | 3 |
Jun-23 | 4 |
Jul-23 | 4 |
Aug-23 | 4 |
Sep-23 | 3 |
Oct-23 | 3 |
Nov-23 | 3 |
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 7 March (HL2663), whether they have made any estimate of the number of camps, including the so-called anti-extremism centres and re-education camps, in (1) Tibet and (2) the rest of China.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government refers to credible external estimates, in particular those from the United Nations, of numbers of individuals in China detained under various circumstances and within certain geographies. For example, the April 2023 UN Special Procedures found "[h]undreds of thousands of Tibetans have reportedly been 'transferred' from their traditional rural lives to low-skilled and low-paid employment since 2015" noting "the labour transfer programme is facilitated by a network of 'vocational training centres', which focus less on developing professional skills and more on cultural and political indoctrination in a militarised environment." As noted in the Government's response to Written Question HL2663, with regard to the situation in Xinjiang, in 2018 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination estimated "upwards of a million people were being held in so-called counter-extremism centres and another two million had been forced into what the Chinese refer to as 're-education camps' for political and cultural indoctrination."
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of fishing by China’s state-sponsored distant water fleet in the (a) Andaman Sea and (b) Gulf of Thailand.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to engaging with other countries, including China, to sustainably manage fisheries, protect ecosystems and combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. We support ocean protection through appropriate funding. For example, at the G7 Leaders Summit in Cornwall, the Government pledged £500 million to create our Blue Planet Fund to help developing countries protect the ocean from pollution, overfishing and habitat loss. We also push for multilateral action internationally, including through Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, the Convention of Biological Diversity and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. The UK remains committed to international law and UNCLOS.
China is building a network of fishing bases in developing countries across four continents. Comprising ports, boats, and fish processing plants, the bases service China's distant-water fleet: an armada of over 4,600 vessels (potentially many more) that operates in the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of 42 countries and accounts for 14 percent of worldwide marine catch by value.
Mar. 27 2024
Source Page: Notice to Traders 21/24 - Imports of Garlic from Countries other than China and EU Member States under Statutory Instrument No. 2020/1432Found: Notice to Traders 21/24 - Imports of Garlic from Countries other than China and EU Member States under
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the tactics deployed by Chinese vessels against the Philippines on 9 and 10 December in the South China Sea.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the unsafe and escalatory tactics taken by Chinese vessels against the Philippines on 9 and 10 December in the South China Sea. The UK opposes any action which raises tensions, including harassment, unsafe conduct and intimidation tactics which increase the risk of miscalculation and threaten regional peace and stability. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) sets out the legal framework that governs all activities in the ocean and seas. We oppose any claims that are not founded in UNCLOS. Both China and the Philippines must adhere to the findings of the 2016 Arbitral Award proceedings, which are legally binding on both parties. This position is reflected in an FCDO Spokesperson statement of 11 December, which was issued in response to the latest incidents. The UK will continue to support regional partners through an enhanced programme of maritime capacity building in Southeast Asia which provides training and funding to strengthen regional capacity on maritime law and security.