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East Asia

We have heard several thoughtful speeches on the Committee’s interesting report. For reasons that I shall make clear in a moment, I intend to speak mostly about Hong Kong. The speeches of the hon. Member for Hyndburn (Mr. Pope) and those who spoke before him flagged up the clear challenge for us all in dealing with China. I say that as an officer of the all-party group on China. I want to discuss some of the Committee’s conclusions. Conclusion 57 states:"““We conclude that strengthening understanding of China is most important and we recommend that the Government continue its support for the Great Britain China Centre.””" I hope that we all, as democrats, believe it important to engage in dialogue. However, there is a particular conundrum with China, which is clearly demonstrated in two of the Committee’s earlier conclusions. The short, stark conclusion 8 states:"““We conclude that the United Kingdom’s market share in China is lagging behind its competitors, and that the Government must do more to support British business in China.””" That is augmented by the sentence at the end of conclusion 10:"““We recommend that the Government increase the number of high level ministerial visits to China””—" I emphasise the next part—"““in support of British business.””" So, the Committee recommends that high-level Ministers should continue to visit China to promote UK business, but it also recommends, quite rightly:"““We recommend that the Government continue to raise human rights at the highest levels with Chinese counterparts, and do not flinch from making public statements where appropriate.””" The point that I was seeking to put to my right hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley)—clearly I did not do so with sufficient eloquence—is that it is incredibly difficult simultaneously to promote trade and unflinchingly to have a crack at one’s counterparts on human rights. Both have to be done, but the situation with China presents whoever is in government with a particularly difficult and complex situation. That means that we need the strongest possible embassies in Beijing and diplomatic support in China so that we can ensure that Ministers and others in London have the best possible advice on how most effectively to do this. I have been stung into making those comments as a consequence of the debate that has taken place so far. The Foreign Affairs Committee has done the House a considerable service in producing a cogent and comprehensive report on China. As a footnote, I should point out that it was a slight pity that this debate has been referred to as being on ““East Asia””, although there must be some reason for that. When people use Google and so forth, they tend to type in ““China”” in this regard, and I guess that, had ““China”” had been on the Order Paper, more right hon. and hon. Members might have been present as there is considerable interest in the House in China. There is an enormous amount of meat in the report, which covers issues of substance ranging from China’s increasing impact on the world economy and the need for Britain to do more to support British business in China, to the need to ensure that China complies with the universal standards on human rights, to which reference has been made. I do not, in any way, seek to diminish the importance of the other issues in the report, but I want to focus on one area: Hong Kong. Until the end of the previous Parliament, the House had a separate all-party group on Hong Kong. It was decided in this Parliament that, henceforth, that group would become part of the all-party group on China, of which I am the Conservative vice-chair. The group agreed that I would take the lead on ensuring that it maintained a clear focus on Hong Kong. There is considerable interest in the House in Hong Kong, although for a number of years there had been little direct contact between it and UK parliamentarians. Last September, with the help and support of the Hong Kong office in London, an all-party group of eight MPs visited Hong Kong for a week. As a result of the success of that visit and the considerable number of parliamentary colleagues who applied to go to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong office in London is this year arranging two further visits, one during the Whitsun recess and the other in the summer recess, each for six Members of the House. So far, 92 right hon. and hon. Members have asked to be considered for the visits, so unfortunately, but inevitably, a number of colleagues will be disappointed this year. However, I hope that this is a pattern of visits and contacts that we will be able to maintain in future years, so that as many colleagues as possible have the opportunity to visit and experience Hong Kong and so that we collectively have the opportunity of maintaining contact with those involved in politics and democracy there. Such visits will also help to ensure that we collectively maximise the opportunities for UK business in Hong Kong and, through the gateway of Hong Kong, in the rest of China. I hope that twice-yearly visits by all-party groups of the House will be able to pursue, among other things, the points raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley) on the progress to direct elections to the LegCo. That is part of the ongoing dialogue that we need to have in Hong Kong. The year 2007 is particularly notable because it is 10 years since Hong Kong returned to China. I should mention in passing that on Sunday 1 July, the Hong Kong community in the UK is holding a day of celebrations to mark the success of Hong Kong over the past 10 years. They will include some dragon boat racing. I believe that the all-party group on China hopes to enter a team. I invite the Minister to join the parliamentary dragon boat team, perhaps as our drummer. Our team may well have 10 drummers and one rower, unlike most dragon boat teams. The fact we have such a dynamic community of Hong Kong origin indicates the vibrancy of London.