Uighurs: UK sanctions four Chinese officials over 'appalling violations' of human rights in Xinjiang
Dominic Raab says the world "cannot simply look the other way" as "one of the worst human rights crises of our time" unfolds.
Monday 22 March 2021 21:08, UK
Four Chinese officials will be sanctioned by the UK over "appalling violations" of human rights against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province, the foreign secretary has announced.
Sanctions have also been placed on an official body - Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau.
The US, Canada and the European Union have also introduced sanctions, with the UK imposing travel bans and asset freezes.
Dominic Raab said the evidence points to a "highly disturbing programme of repression" in Xinjiang and the world "cannot simply look the other way" as "one of the worst human rights crises of our time" unfolds.
Mr Raab told the Commons that the "evidence is clear as it is sobering" when it comes to what is happening in Xinjiang, describing it as the "largest mass detention of an ethnic or religious group since the Second World War".
The foreign secretary said: "It includes satellite imagery, survivor testimony, official documentation and indeed leaks from the Chinese government itself, credible open source reporting including from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, visits by British diplomats to the region that have corroborated other reports about the targeting of specific ethnic groups."
:: Subscribe to Into The Grey Zone podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Mr Raab added: "Expressions of religion have been criminalised, Uighur language and culture discriminated against on a systematic scale.
"There is widespread use of forced labour, women forcibly sterilised, children separated from their parents.
"An entire population subject to surveillance, including collection of DNA, use of facial recognition software and so called predictive policing algorithms."
Yang Xiaoguang, charge d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in London, told Sky News that Beijing was "not surprised" by the UK's move.
"There is no so-called genocide or forced labour or mass sterilisation or other things. We call them the lies of the century," he claimed.
"The accusations against us in Xinjiang are totally groundless."
Referencing the concerted international action, Mr Raab said: "I think it's clear that by acting with our partners, 30 of us in total, we are sending the clearest message to the Chinese government that the international community will not turn a blind eye to such serious and systematic violations of basic human rights and that we will act in concert to hold those responsible to account."
Labour's shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy accused Mr Raab of a "grubby" and "cynical" move designed to placate Conservative backbenchers ahead of votes on amendments to the Trade Bill aimed at stopping trade pacts with countries involved in genocide.
"It is designed to send a signal, first and foremost, not to the Chinese government but to his own backbenchers," she told MPs.
"It is motivated primarily by a desire to protect the government not the Uighur.
"For all the talk of being a force for good in the world, it is only when this government is staring down the barrel of defeat that it discovers a moral centre.
"Only now that the US and EU have acted has he finally moved to take this step."
An angry Mr Raab accused Ms Nandy of making "false statements", prompting a rebuke from Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
He later changed his claim to "inaccurate" statements, adding that there was no link between the sanctions and the Trade Bill.
MPs later voted to formally reverse the amendments to the legislation made by the House of Lords, as well as supporting a government compromise amendment.
This will ensure that ministers must put their position in writing to any select committee publication that raises "credible" reports of genocide in a country with which the UK is pursuing a free trade agreement.
Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, asked the foreign secretary why he was "reticent" to use the term "genocide" in relation to Xinjiang.
Mr Raab responded: "The arguments around genocide and the importance of it being determined by a court are well rehearsed."
Layla Moran, foreign affairs spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, also criticised the government.
"Dominic Raab is still refusing to call what is happening to the Uighurs a genocide. These sanctions as far as they go are welcome, but there is more to do," she said.
"The Liberal Democrats are clear that human rights must always come first - that's why the Genocide Amendment to the Trade Bill is so vital."