The report was compiled by deputies from the Foreign Affairs Committee and focuses primarily on China’s treatment of its Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang province. Human rights activists allege that rape and forced sterilizations are used as part of a campaign to control the population in the northwest internment camps. The United States has even gone so far as to label China’s actions against its Muslim population as “genocide.”
The authors of the report argued that the Cabinet should impose fines on any UK company knowingly doing business with Chinese companies linked to human rights abuses.
They also urged Downing Street to actively dissuade UK companies from sponsoring the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, as well as advertising the Games.
Tom Tugendhat, the committee’s conservative chair, told Politico that doing nothing was not an option.
“If we choose not to do this, we are interweaving the dragon more and more deeply into our national life,” he said.
The Conservative MP added that the British public expected its political leaders to uphold the “defense of the rule of law” and “fair competition in commerce”.
China has emerged as one of Britain’s most important trading partners in recent years.
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Conservative MP Alicia Kearns said the government should target cotton because it is “absolutely clear” that it is produced by forced Uyghur labor.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said the Cabinet “will carefully consider the findings of this report.”
They added that Britain had already “announced measures to ensure that no British organization is complicit in these violations through their supply chains.”
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Source: feedproxy.google.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-08 23:29:00
