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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

UK should take China to task on human rights and Taiwan, MPs say

A Chinese police officer stands guard in Xinjiang region, where MPs accuse China of genocide against the Uyghur people
A Chinese police officer stands guard in Xinjiang region, where MPs accuse China of genocide against the Uyghur people. Photograph: Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images

Britain must take a tougher stance on China over its severe human rights abuses and help Taiwan build its defences to deter a potential attack from Beijing, an influential group of MPs says.

With the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, scheduled to land in China on Wednesday for a first official visit in five years, a report from the foreign affairs select committee says ministers have to call out the country’s transnational repression.

China’s behaviour is a threat to world security that cannot be ignored, it says.

The Chinese Communist party (CCP) is “seeking to silence criticism of its human rights abuses, and impose its foreign policy and Xi Jinping’s thought beyond its own borders”, the committee, which is Tory controlled, writes. “This is a challenge to the functioning of democracies globally.”

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