Dr Andrew Murrison, South West Wiltshire MP and an ex-Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister, questioned Minister Nigel Adams over the Government’s China policy, after reports emerged this week of Chinese slave labour.
Based on Chinese government documents, and described as ‘reliable’ by Minister Adams, a report from the Center for Global Policy records that at least half a million people have been forced to pick cotton in China’s Xinjiang province – where a million Muslim minority Uighurs have been imprisoned since 2017.
Andrew has been consistent in questioning the Government over China’s oppressive state activities, having last month questioned the Government on China’s encroachment into Hong Kong’s democratic process.
Today, focusing on an international solution towards stamping out forced labour produced goods, Andrew asked the Minister:
“Will he persuade not only his colleagues, but those governments that he persuaded in October [at the United Nations] to support the Uighur people, to look at national public procurement supply chains to ensure that national governments are doing everything in their power… to have nothing to do with cotton that is sourced from countries that may be using forced labour?”
The Minister agreed that collaboration is indeed vital across government and with international partners, and that more action can be expected in the New Year.