This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy faces criticism for not condemning the Uyghur murder during a subsequent two-day visit to China with his Chinese equivalent.
In Xinjiang, a great place in northwestern China, where there are approximately 12 million mainly Muslim Uyghurs, British MPs passed a motion in April 2021 declaring that China was staging a genocide against the Uyghur individuals.
Following Lammy’s Oct. 18 meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, Britain’s Foreign Office released , a readout , which said he raised the issue of rights crimes as a stumbling block in diplomatic relations.
” Human Rights were discussed, including in Xinjiang, and the Foreign Secretary referenced this as an place which the UK and China may participate, yet where beliefs diverge”, the statement said.
However, Lammy was attacked for no particularly addressing the Rohingya murder by opposition members of the UK Parliament and a representative from the World Uyghur Congress campaigning party.
” On individual rights in Xinjiang, the House of Commons, including the Labour party in criticism, voted that murder was taking place in Xinjiang, yet the Foreign Office reading simply said: ‘ Human rights were discussed,'”  , Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith told Lammy during a political conference on Oct. 28.
” This is a genocide taking place, with slave labor”, he said. Why is n’t the government condemning China more categorically?
Based on reputable evidence of widespread suspensions in camps, forced sterilization of Uyghur women, and other significant rights abuses, the United States and electorates of other European nations have also stated that China has committed murder or crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.
Sanctions
Duncan Smith continued, adding that he heard there was a shift in the Foreign Office to pull American sanctions on Chinese officials accountable for the genocide in Xinjiang as part of a deal to lift sanctions on American lawmakers.
” And I just simply say to the foreign minister, I may tell him, that I, for one, may not accept such a terrible deal at any cost, and I hope he will mark on that straightaway”, he said.
In March 2021, China imposed sanctions on British organizations and politicians, including Duncan Smith and fellow Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, accusing them of spreading “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in Xinjiang. The sanctions were brought in as a result of Britain’s decision to take legal action against four Chinese officials.
O’Brien noted at Monday’s parliamentary session that when the Labour party was in opposition, it said there was” clear and compelling evidence” of a genocide in Xinjiang. He inquired to Lammy if he still thought this was the case now that Labour is the party’s leader.
In response to O’Brien and Duncan Smith during the session, Lammy claimed that he did “raise Xinjiang in the context of human rights” and the issue of sanctioned parliamentarians with both Wang Yi and the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign affairs spokesperson.
Regarding the lifting of sanctions against British lawmakers, Lammy mentioned threats and aggression in the South China sea, Jimmy Lai’s imprisonment, and curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong.
Any UK Foreign Minister who does n’t visit China would be completely inadmissible, he said.
Lammy stated that he is “deeply concerned about the human rights violations in Xinjiang,” but that it is the International Criminal Court and other organizations ‘ responsibility to make a genocide determination,” not for national government.”
Lammy ‘ vocal’ on issues
A British government spokesperson said Lammy has been vocal on both issues when asked by Radio Free Asia about reports of a deal to remove sanctions and clarification of how it classifies rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The spokesperson stated that the Foreign Secretary has called on China to lift its sanctions on UK parliamentarians and that it has raised serious human rights issues with the country, including those involving Xinjiang.
The spokesperson continued,” China’s sanctions against parliamentarians are completely unwarranted and unacceptable and are incomparable to the sanctions announced by the UK in 2021, which were based on compelling and widespread evidence of serious and systematic human rights violations in Xinjiang.”
The World Uyghur Congress ‘ director in the UK, Rahima Mahmut, expressed her satisfaction that Duncan Smith and O’Brien questioned him about his failure to discuss the Uyghur genocide with Wang Yi.
She added that it is unlikely that the British government would rescind the sanctions against Chinese officials.
She told RFA,” This is because the punishment imposed on Chinese officials is based on compelling evidence that these officials violated international law in terms of human rights.”
