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East Asia

Hon. Members can rest assured that I will write to everyone who has been here; that is a policy that I follow. I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes), for example, raised the international covenant on civil and political rights, which is very important. China committed itself to ratifying that, and it is a priority area for work with us. We regularly ask that the Chinese commit themselves to a timetable for ratification. We are working with them on that, bilaterally and with the European Union, and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary raised it with her Chinese Foreign Minister counterpart when they last met. We have offered resources to the global opportunities fund to help it to put in place the changes that need to be made in, for example, complex areas relating to death penalty reform and fair trial provisions. Indeed, when I was in China recently, I met the Chinese officials and those who are operating the fund for us, who are working with the Chinese on the training of, access to and protection of defenders and on the death penalty and reforms relating to better access to support at trials. We are not just doing the policy big thing; we are also doing the practical thing. On arms exports and the arms embargo, I spent a great deal of time on that in the European Standing Committee yesterday. I set out fully the relevant issues. That will have appeared in Hansard, so I have not dodged the question. The same question was asked yesterday, and answers to some of the follow-up questions are set out in detail in the record of that Committee, which I will send to my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, South. Tibet was spoken about by the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Sir John Stanley)—I call him my right hon. Friend; we have worked closely for many years. Can my right hon. Friend come and see me?