---

China and the West

I am thinking of the hon. Gentleman's interventions on me as sub-paragraphs in my own speech because I entirely concur with everything that he is saying, which is all very depressing. Let me add to the point about how we ensure that we get the most economic advantage for the UK out of China's growth. We will have a British pavilion in the World Expo in Shanghai, which will make a significant contribution to ensuring that the Chinese have a keen understanding of what constitutes modern Britain and of the economic opportunities that we afford. The design by Heatherwick is very innovative. It will be an exciting part of the landscape in Shanghai and is growing apace. I am grateful for the private sector support from AstraZeneca, Barclays, BP, Diageo and GKN. The second pillar of our framework to ensure that China emerges as a responsible global player plays into many of the issues that hon. Members have raised. I am talking about China's support for the robust sanctions against North Korea following its second nuclear test, and its role in the "E3 plus 3" process in relation to Iran. As I said earlier, we regret the fact that in January 2007, it vetoed a resolution on Burma. Since then there have been significant developments in which China could have played a far greater role. I refer too to the position it took last July on Zimbabwe. As for climate change, we have seen a significant move in recent days for which we are grateful. China has a national leading group on energy and climate change, which is chaired by the Chinese Premier, Wen. It has a national climate change programme dating from 2007, and in October the leading groups announced that China must incorporate addressing climate change and reducing the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions into national, economic and social development plans. China may be following such a policy for different reasons from our analysis of the need for a robust outcome in Copenhagen, but we will be working closely between now and Copenhagen to ensure that we reach a clear and robust agreement on the need to ensure that global temperatures do not rise 2° above the temperatures of 1990. Moreover, we must ensure that there is a global fund to help us protect the world around us. We also hope for an early conclusion of the Doha development round and we believe that China's membership of the WTO should enable that rather than prevent it. Finally, the third pillar is about promoting sustainable development, modernisation and internal reform in China. Whether it is on the death penalty, human rights in Tibet or more generally in China, we believe that constructive engagement with China as an economic ally and friend can go forward only when there is a wholehearted embracing of proper human rights. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster for raising these issues today. If there are any further issues that I have not addressed, I will reply to hon. Members in writing.