Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Tuesday, 9 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 November 2004. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 November 2004 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Chinese authorities on the situation of Pastor Goug Sheugliang of the South China Church and Mr Zhang Yurian.

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has made to the Chinese authorities on the situation of Pastor Gong Shengliang of the South China Church and Mr. Zhang Yinan. [198071] Mr. Rammell: We are aware of the cases of both Pastor Gong Shengliang and Zhang Yinan. UK officials raised our concerns about Pastor Gong with the Chinese Government in May 2004. We also supported an EU demarche on his, and other cases, on 17 June. We are deeply concerned about religious freedom in China, including the treatment of Christians, and monitor the situation closely. We raise religious freedom, the issue of torture and other human rights issues regularly with the Chinese Government, including during our biannual UK/China Human Rights Dialogue. We are also funding projects in China, which aim to reduce the incidence of torture.

Secondary information