Cleverly meets China’s vice-president amid criticism of Beijing by British MPs
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has met China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, during the first visit to Beijing by a UK foreign secretary in five years.
During the meeting, Cleverly said it was important the two governments continued with regular face-to-face meetings to avoid misunderstandings. He also said it was important to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries had in bilateral relations, according to Reuters.
But the visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the government’s approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, while the foreign affairs committee chair, Alicia Kearns, said she had spoken to Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.
Cleverly said he had raised human rights issues during meetings with Chinese officials. In an interview with Sky News, Cleverly was pressed on whether simply raising human rights obligations was enough amid concerns about abuses in Xinjiang province.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so,” he said, adding:
This is an issue that is discussed extensively – not just bilaterally, but at the United Nations. I take very seriously the report produced by the United Nations based on figures from the Chinese government.
So this will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and I’m not going to change my posture on that. And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"64eef8748f08b9a6738aa453","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has met China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, during the first visit to Beijing by a UK foreign secretary in five years.
","elementId":"0a50f9fe-9a84-41ab-b94a-16d169903ba3"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
During the meeting, Cleverly said it was important the two governments continued with regular face-to-face meetings to avoid misunderstandings. He also said it was important to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries had in bilateral relations, according to Reuters.
","elementId":"608ee25a-89dc-4e7c-aa80-a3571dad6f08"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
But the visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.
","elementId":"f6b69f40-c079-4841-a07a-230a7284c152"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the government’s approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, while the foreign affairs committee chair, Alicia Kearns, said she had spoken to Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.
","elementId":"84ecd7ca-86ac-43cd-bc3e-daddb7c248e6"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Cleverly said he had raised human rights issues during meetings with Chinese officials. In an interview with Sky News, Cleverly was pressed on whether simply raising human rights obligations was enough amid concerns about abuses in Xinjiang province.
","elementId":"ce34f100-a31d-40ba-b8eb-e70d603698bb"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
“I’ve had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so,” he said, adding:
","elementId":"f8629918-070f-4124-a227-271cc7aae320"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement","html":"
\n
This is an issue that is discussed extensively – not just bilaterally, but at the United Nations. I take very seriously the report produced by the United Nations based on figures from the Chinese government.
\n
So this will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and I’m not going to change my posture on that. And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.
\n
","elementId":"5ed82fea-bdf0-44db-9ac3-0e43ec9d558d"}],"attributes":{"pinned":true,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1693383889000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"04.24 EDT","blockLastUpdated":1693384473000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"04.34 EDT","blockFirstPublished":1693383889000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"04.24 EDT","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"04.24","title":"Cleverly meets China’s vice-president amid criticism of Beijing by British MPs","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Wed 30 Aug 2023 05.03 EDT","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Wed 30 Aug 2023 04.24 EDT"}],"filterKeyEvents":false,"format":{"display":0,"theme":0,"design":11},"id":"key-events-carousel-mobile"}”>
Key events
Aamna Mohdin
The outgoing head of the UK’s leading race equality thinktank has said the continued denial of institutional racism has created a credibility issue for the government.
Dr Halima Begum, who is stepping down as the director of Runnymede Trust after three years, said that soon after the government released its controversial report on race, which claimed to not find evidence for institutional racism, there were several national scandals that showed otherwise.
“Every time they denied institutional racism, some other event would happen that showed the realities for people of colour living in Britain. If it wasn’t the Casey review, it was the cricket, or the experience of the black England footballers at the Euros. Every time there’s a denial of racism, it surfaces out again. So no, they were not successful,” she said.
She added: “I would say the more they tried to deny the existence of racism, the more they showed themselves to be not committed to race and, in fact, not committed to many people in this country, because the rest of the country could see the disparities. I think it created a bit of a credibility issue for the government and those that would deny institutional racism.”
Libby Brooks
Just 9% of Scottish firms agree that the SNP government understands the business environment in Scotland, according to a new report from the Fraser of Allander Institute.
The survey of more than 400 businesses in July and August found that larger firms and those in the hospitality industry in particular agreed that the current administration was out of touch with business needs, presenting a challenge to Humza Yousaf, who set out a “new deal” for business soon after he became first minister in April in an attempt to improve relations which were widely seen to have suffered under Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership.
Yousaf presents his programme for government – the Holyrood equivalent of the king’s speech – to the Scottish parliament next week amid expectations of significant public service cuts and potential tax rises this term.
But further polling, this time from True North, a political consultancy set up by former advisers to Alex Salmond, found that more than half of Scottish voters believe they do not get value for money from public services, despite higher earners paying more income tax here than elsewhere in the UK.
Cleverly meets China’s vice-president amid criticism of Beijing by British MPs
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We start with news that the British foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has met China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, during the first visit to Beijing by a UK foreign secretary in five years.
During the meeting, Cleverly said it was important the two governments continued with regular face-to-face meetings to avoid misunderstandings. He also said it was important to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries had in bilateral relations, according to Reuters.
But the visit has been criticised by China hawks on the Tory benches, who want a tougher line against a state which has sanctioned several British MPs and peers for speaking out about human rights violations.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith compared the government’s approach to the appeasement of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, while the foreign affairs committee chair, Alicia Kearns, said she had spoken to Cleverly before his visit and urged him to pressure the Chinese on human rights concerns.
Cleverly said he had raised human rights issues during meetings with Chinese officials. In an interview with Sky News, Cleverly was pressed on whether simply raising human rights obligations was enough amid concerns about abuses in Xinjiang province.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with senior representatives of the Chinese government, and I have raised human rights in every single one of those meetings and I will continue to do so,” he said, adding:
This is an issue that is discussed extensively – not just bilaterally, but at the United Nations. I take very seriously the report produced by the United Nations based on figures from the Chinese government.
So this will continue to be an area of discussion that I bring up alongside other areas, and I’m not going to change my posture on that. And I think the Chinese government understand the UK is consistent in our approach. I am consistent in my approach and I will keep raising these issues with the Chinese government.
