Britain bought PPE worth £320m from firms linked to the Chinese regime. Was any of it produced by Uighur slave labour?
Britain bought PPE worth £320m from firms linked to the Chinese regime
Contract details from purchases at the height of the crisis earlier this year prompt calls in Parliament to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/10/19/government-bought-ppe-firms-linked-chinese-state/
The Government also needs to answer some searching questions following reports that PPE is being manufactured in China allegedly using coerced Uighur forced labour. In Parliament today I have asked whether they have procured supplies of PPE from Hubei Haixin Protective Products Group Co Ltd, or other factories in China.
This follows a news report describing how masks manufactured at a Chinese factory using allegedly coerced Uighur labour have been sold in Australia: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2020/07/25/2003740511
“At least 200,000 masks made by Hubei Haixin Protective Products Group in China and then sent to multiple distributors in Australia are in question, and consumers might be unwittingly purchasing masks made by allegedly coerced labour.”
One of the factories named in the Australian Strategic Policy Institute report belonged to Hubei Haixin, which manufactures personal protective equipment in Hubei Province, central China, and exports to a range of countries, including Australia.
The state-run Hubei Daily newspaper reported that the company, in agreement with the Chinese government, transported 131 Uighur women aged 19 to 31 from their home in Xinjiang to the company’s factory in Hubei by train earlier this year, a distance of more than 3,200km.
Questions have been tabled today asking whether the same company supplied any personal protective equipment from China.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they awarded any contracts for the provision of personal protective equipment to Hubei Haixin Protective Products Group Co., Ltd; if so, what plans they have to publish the details of those contracts; what was each contract’s value; and what was supplied.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government which companies that have been awarded contracts to supply personal protective equipment to the NHS have sourced stock from Hubei Haixin Protective Products Co., Ltd.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government which contracts they awarded to Medwell Medical Products for the provision of personal protection equipment; what was the value of each such contract; and what was supplied.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government which companies that have been awarded contracts to supply personal protective equipment to the NHS have sourced stock from Medwell Medical Products.
Lord Alton of Liverpool to ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any personal protective equipment that was manufactured by Hubei Haixin Protective Products Group Co., Ltd has been bought by the NHS; and if so, how much (1) that equipment has cost in total, and (2) they have bought, to date.
