Visiting China, the head of British diplomacy worries about human rights

August 30, 2023

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, on an official visit to China, has raised human rights issues with all Chinese politicians he has met, he said on Wednesday, amid strained relations between the two countries.

First head of British diplomacy to visit China for five years, Mr. Cleverly met Vice President Han Zheng and is due to meet with his counterpart Wang Yi.

“I spoke with several high-ranking Chinese government officials and raised human rights issues at each of these meetings,” said James Cleverly.

“I think the Chinese government understands that the UK is consistent ‘in standing up for human rights’ and I will continue to speak out on these issues,” he added.

After the “golden age” desired by ex-Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, relations between London and Beijing have deteriorated markedly in recent years. The two countries have divergent positions, particularly on the repression of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, a former British colony, as well as on the fate of the Uyghur Muslim minority in the Xinjiang region or on accusations of human rights violations in Tibet.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry for its part judged that the situation in “Hong Kong and Xinjiang is a matter of internal affairs” of China and that the Chinese government “does not admit any foreign interference”, according to the words of the spokesman of the ministry. , Wang Wenbin, during a press briefing.

Mr. Cleverly’s visit to China coincides with the publication in London on Wednesday of a parliamentary report very critical of Beijing, calling China a “threat to the United Kingdom and its interests”, and calling on the government to develop “diplomacy of deterrence”.

China last month castigated the “protection” offered by the United Kingdom to Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in exile whom it considers “fugitives”, and for whom a reward is promised for information leading to their arrest.

Last Sunday, Chinese state media called on London to “return” Chinese cultural relics on display at the British Museum.