The New Year has begun badly with China’s decision to ban BBC World and by threatening its correspondents in Hong Kong . The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Dominic Raab, says that “China’s decision to ban BBC World News in mainland China is an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom. China has some of the most severe restrictions on media & internet freedoms across the globe, & this latest step will only damage China’s reputation in the eyes of the world.”
He is right, but this attack on the BBC has been precipitated by its courageous decision to broadcast interviews with women who described their treatment in the Uighur camps, having escaped from Xinjiang.
There have been many times in its history when people in benighted places have relied on the BBC’s broadcasters to bring the truth to them – from occupied France during the Second World War to Eastern Europe during the Soviet era. In 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev described how he listened to the BBC after opponents imprisoned him during an attempted coup. It was the one place where he could learn the truth.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party’s suppression of news and free speech is best understood by its treatment of Zhang Zhan – the citizen journalist who remains incarcerated in a Chines jail.
Ben Johnson said “Stand for Truth, its’ enough” – in this generation, the BBC, and citizen journalists like Zhang Zhan, stand for truth and we should be proud to live in a country which is passionate in its defence of free speech.
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Meanwhile, the European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the crackdown on the democratic opposition in Hong Kong and the UK describes those events as “a grievous attack on Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms”
Lord Alton of Liverpool – To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the European Parliament’s (1) adoption of an urgent resolution on ‘the crackdown on the democratic opposition in Hong Kong’, and (2) call for sanctions to be imposed on senior officials from Hong Kong and China under the EU human rights global sanction regime.
[HL12469]
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon – The European Parliament passed a resolution on 21 January on the mass arrests earlier that month. On 6 January, the Foreign Secretary issued a statement on those arrests, condemning the mass arrest of politicians and activists in Hong Kong as a grievous attack on Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms as protected under the Joint Declaration.
We will continue to engage and coordinate our actions with our international partners as befits our historic commitment to the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their rights and freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations freely assumed under international law.
The UK is no longer part of the EU and has developed an independent sanctions regime. We will not speculate on who may be designated under the UK sanctions regime in the future.
The UK has taken a number of measures already in response to developments in Hong Kong. These include introducing a new immigration path for British Nationals (Overseas) passport holders – BN(O)s, suspending our extradition treaty with Hong Kong, and extending our arms embargo on mainland China to Hong Kong
And as Anthony Blinken, the nominee for Secretary of State of the United States of America, says that the USA should “take in some of those fleeing Hong Kong, fleeing the repression, for standing up for their democratic rights” the UK is urged to co-ordinate an international response.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL12467):
Question Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the remarks made by Anthony Blinken, the nominee for Secretary of State of the United States of America, on 19 January that the USA should “take in some of those fleeing Hong Kong, fleeing the repression, for standing up for their democratic rights”; and what plans they have to coordinate an international strategy in support of the people of Hong Kong. (HL12467)
Tabled on: 25 January 2021
Answer:
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
The UK is in close touch with all our international partners, including the US, on developments in Hong Kong. We will continue to engage and coordinate our actions with our international partners, as befits our historic commitment to the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their rights and freedoms, and to hold China to its international obligations.
The UK has taken a number of measures in response to the introduction of the National Security Law. These include a new immigration path for British Nationals (Overseas) passport holders BN(O)s, suspending our extradition treaty with Hong Kong, and extending our arms embargo on mainland China to Hong Kong.
Date and time of answer: 08 Feb 2021 at 17:55.
