Britain: report calls for tougher sanctions against China over treatment of Uygur Muslims

MP Tom Tugendhat, a China hawk, says the Foreign Affairs Committee report looks into ‘what Britain should do’ to prevent crimes against Uygurs

It seeks a ban on cotton imports from Xinjiang, boycotting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, and fast-tracking asylum

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A UK parliamentary report has detailed steps the British government can take in response to alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. Photo: AP

Published: 7:01am, 8 Jul 2021Updated: 10:49am, 9 Sep 2021

Britain should step up sanctions against China over its treatment of Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang, including banning cotton imports from the region, fast-tracking asylum procedures for dissidents and boycotting celebrations for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, according to an all-party parliamentary report published on Thursday morning Hong Kong time.

The report, by the influential Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC), follows months of consultations and hearings. Titled “Never Again: The UK’s Responsibility to Act on Atrocities in Xinjiang”, the 39-page report lists a series of measures the committee believes Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government should take.

These include a British ban on security cameras from Chinese company Hikvision, which it alleges carries out surveillance in Uygur detention camps, and for the BBC World Service to broadcast in Uygur language to help preserve the culture of the Turkic Uygurs.

It also details how Britain can mobilise within international institutions to “increase pressure on the Chinese government to allow international observers access to Xinjiang”, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“The evidence of severe human rights abuses and crimes against the Uygur people is already overwhelming and indisputable, and parliament has called it a genocide,” said MP Tom Tugendhat, chair of the committee and one of Britain’s most outspoken China hawks.

“This report moves the conversation forward, away from the question of whether crimes are taking place and on to what Britain should do to end them.”