UK: David Lammy must use China visit to challenge Beijing’s brutal suppression of human rights

‘The Government should ensure that talks on trade and security relations with China aren’t pursued at the expense of human rights’- Sacha Deshmukh

Commenting on Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s first visit to China expected to take place tomorrow and Saturday, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“This visit is a crucial opportunity for the Foreign Secretary to demonstrate the Government’s true commitment to challenging publicly and privately Beijing’s brutal suppression of human rights in China and Hong Kong.

“Behind closed doors but also in public, David Lammy needs to tackle the Chinese government over its systematic, industrial-scale repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet, its widespread imprisonment of peaceful activists and its completely unacceptable intimidation of students and campaigners here in the UK.  

“The Prime Minister’s statement that the immediate release of the unjustly-imprisoned UK businessman Jimmy Lai is a UK priority is welcome, and Mr Lammy should also seek to secure the immediate release of fellow prisoners of conscience Hong Kong lawyer-activist Chow Hang-tung and Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi, as well as the long-held Uighur economist Ilham Tohti and #MeToo activists Sophia Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing.

“Throughout this trip, the Government should ensure that talks on trade and security relations with China aren’t pursued at the expense of human rights.”

Long arm of Chinese state repression

The Chinese authorities routinely target peaceful critics via pervasive online censorship, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture. Human rights defenders, pro-democracy activists and religious leaders and practitioners have been among those subjected to systematic persecution. The widespread repression of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet has continued despite significant international criticism.

In Hong Kong, journalists, broadcasters and book publishers have been among those prosecuted and imprisoned under the territory’s notorious National Security Law and other repressive legislation, while civil society organisations both in Hong Kong and abroad have faced criminal charges or harassment for their legitimate activities. The long arm of Chinese state repression has meant that Chinese and Hong Kong communities in the UK, other parts of Europe and North America have all suffered various kinds of threats and intimidation, part of a sinister pattern of “transnational repression”.