UK ‘must come clean’ after Government ‘secretly softens’ China human rights policy

Senior MPs and peers have demanded answers after leaked documents appeared to show the Government secretly softened its policy on Chinese businesses accused of human rights abuses.

A Whitehall assessment advised ministers that the Government would be pausing any consideration of sanctions against Chinese firms “indefinitely”, according to internal Cabinet documents seen by i.

Conservative backbencher and leading China hawk, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, raised the assessment in the House of Commons on Wednesday, saying it was a “terrible decision”.

Any softening of the UK’s stance will raise further questions about the Government’s China policy. Removing the threat of sanctions would reduce further safeguards against maltreatment of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region and the curtailing of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.

The Foreign Office has claimed elements of the document are ‘incorrect’, and the FCDO has “never ruled out sanctions designations on any individual or entity”.

The documents were shared amongst ministers in November last year, when David Cameron took up his role in the Foreign Office, with the rationale behind the decision withheld for security reasons.

But prominent China hawks across Westminster have today urged the Government to explain the document and its current stance on Chinese businesses fully.

Tory Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns, said the “outrageous” decision would give Chinese businesses implicated in human rights abuses a “carte blanche to conduct repression and indeed be complicit in genocide” without facing sanctions.

“If true it makes a mockery of every so-called commitment to human rights in China uttered by a minister since November and is the opposite of credible deterrence,” she told i. “Can ministers who repeatedly stated sanctions were under review really assert they weren’t misleading the House?”

Ms Kearns was one of 43 MPs who, along with 32 Human Rights NGOs, issued a joint statement to the UK government on Wednesday calling for action to combat Uyghur forced labor in China’s solar supply chains.

Another signatory on the statement, Liberal Democrat MP Leyla Moran said Tory ministers “must come clean” about the revelations.

“We need answers on why the government is giving a free pass to a repressive regime,” she told i. “In particular there will be those in the UK from Hong Kong and Uyghur communities deeply concerned at this apparent soft stance towards the Chinese government.”

Wednesday’s revelations reveal another layer in the UK’s complex policy towards China, and the alleged limitations of the UK’s action against firms benefitting from a host of alleged human rights abuses in the country.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been urged to rethink his efforts to convince the controversial clothing firm Shein to list its shares in London, because of alleged “abuse” in its supply chain.

Mr Hunt recently held talks with Donald Tang, executive chairman of the Chinese fast-fashion giant, and the Chancellor is thought to be keen on Shein floating in the UK despite the company Shein to labour abuses at its suppliers’ factories in 2022.

Labour have hit out at the “baffling” decision laid out in the documents, adding that the Prime Minister’s policy towards China is “all talk”, following the disclosures.

A Labour spokesperson said: “In the same month Sunak appointed the architect of the ‘golden era’ policy to run Britain’s foreign policy, the government secretly paused sanctions considerations against Chinese firms and officials for human rights abuses ‘indefinitely’ without offering any rationale,

“It is baffling that the FCDO had made decision for months but failed to communicate it to the many MPs and campaigners calling for sanctions,

“There are rightly questions on the Tory backbenches over whether this Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary’s confused position on China can deliver the strong, clear-eyed and consistent approach that is needed.”

The UK has publicly criticised Beijing on its human rights record, but only four Chinese government officials and a Xinjiang security body have faced sanctions under the UK’s flagship Global Human Rights sanction regime since its inception in 2020, with none being handed down for the past three years.

An FCDO spokesperson said the documents were “incorrect” and the FCDO has “never ruled out sanctions designations on any individual or entity”.

They said: “It is not appropriate to speculate on future designations, as to do so could reduce their impact, but the FCDO continues to keep potential sanctions designations under close review.”

But Labour chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong Alistair Carmichael said it had been “obvious for some time” that the Government has not taken sanctions against China seriously and called on ministers to explain the leaked documents.

“We need a full accounting to parliament for this,” he told i. “When it came to sanctioning those responsible for the human rights abuses in China, especially the genocide in Xingjiang Province, the government’s heart really was not in it.”

A parliamentary question was tabled in the House of Lords pressing the government to make a statement on the matter, following i‘s revelations.

In submitting the question, Lord David Alton demanded the government explain ” whether they are still actively considering targeted sanctions against Chinese officials; and if not, why?”

Lord Alton told i: “If it is true that sanctions are not being applied against people complicit in the destruction of democracy, the genocide of Uyghurs, or multiple human rights violations in China…it makes a mockery of the often-repeated claims about our foreign policy being driven by our values and beliefs.”

The news comes as Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing parliament passed repressive Article 23 national security laws, granting authorities more power to quash dissent. The laws stipulate life sentences for offences like external interference and insurrection, fueling fears of authoritarianism in the region.

Maya Wang, the associate director in the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said that while the UK government has spoken out against the “draconian” laws, “words are not enough”.

She told i: “We call on the UK government to explain this decision, and reverse it if true, and immediately impose targeted sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for dismantling the freedoms in Hong Kong.”