British MPs urge govt to sanction Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuse

As many as five British lawmakers have urged the UK Parliament to bring new laws to sanction Chinese officials involved in the human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang. The parliamentarians debated over the reports of forced labour programmes and other human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang. Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, also co-chair of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), advocated imposing travel bans and freezing the assets of Chinese officials responsible for rights abuse.

IPAC member Tim Loughton called for reciprocal access to Tibet since Chinese officials enjoy broad access to the UK. The Conservative leader stressed the importance of sending a strong signal to China over human rights abuse. He said that China has no divine right to gain immunity from being called out on such issues.

“We need this law...to send out a very strong signal that you cannot abuse your own people in secret. We will call it out. The human rights abuses of this magnitude wherever they happen must be called out,” Loughton added.

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'Fundamental reset'

IPAC has been created to promote a coordinated response between democratic states to challenges posed by the present conduct and future ambitions of China. Another IPAC member Alistair Carmichael told the parliament that human rights are universal and if they don’t matter in Xinjiang then “they don't actually matter here either.” Stephen Kinnock, Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific, even called for a "fundamental reset" in UK-China relations.

China has been facing increased international scrutiny over alleged human rights violations of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province. Reports suggest that Beijing has expanded the scope of the crackdown to other ethnic minorities in different regions. According to a South China Morning Post report, Beijing has increased surveillance on the Utsuls of Hainan island, almost 12,000 kilometres from Xinjiang.

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