Hong Kong Watch urges UK to stand up for human rights during Chancellor’s visit to China

Today, Hong Kong Watch Patrons Lord Patten of Barnes, Lord Alton of Liverpool and Sir Geoffrey Nice KC sent a letter to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy MP, raising their concerns over the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s visit to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its implications for the UK-China bilateral relationship. 

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, is visiting Beijing to meet with the PRC vice-premier, He Lifeng, and visiting Shanghai to meet with local officials and business representatives. The meeting is expected to mark the recommencement of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, which was last held in 2019 and suspended following the PRC’s imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in 2020. 

The Chancellor will be accompanied by Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Financial Chief Authority Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi, and senior banking figures including Chair of HSBC Sir Mark Edward Tucker, whose bank is withholding an estimated £978 million in Mandatory Provident Fund savings from BNO Hong Kongers now living in the UK. 

The trip also comes before the completion of the government’s audit of UK-China relations by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Originally planned to be released within the first 100 days of the new government taking office, the results of the China audit are now expected to be released in the first quarter of 2025. 

Hong Kong Watch is concerned that major visits to China by senior officials are being planned before FCDO has completed its audit of UK-China relations, and while the Hong Kong government continues to engage in acts of transnational repression against British nationals and pro-democracy activists. Most recently on Christmas Eve 2024, the Hong Kong government issued a third round of arrest warrants with HK$1 million (£102,700) bounties for six exiled Hong Kongers, four of whom reside in the UK. 

That is why our Patrons who signed the letter to the Foreign Secretary below “request information on which specific issues are raised during the Chancellor’s visit to China related to Hong Kong and human rights” and ask him “to seriously consider our concerns to demonstrate [his] commitment to the UK’s democratic values and human rights obligations under international law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”

You can find the full letter here.

Lord Alton, Hong Kong Watch Patron and Chair of the Human Rights Joint Committee, said:

“The FCDO promised that the China audit would set a clear and consistent direction for the UK’s China policy over the next five years. But with senior government officials already flying to Beijing, it would appear that the UK’s China policy is being made up as we go along. 

Seeking opportunities for growth should not come at the expense of our commitments to democracy and human rights. We are seriously concerned that presently the former is being prioritised over the latter. We urge the Foreign Secretary to demonstrate that this government will stand up for human rights, and not simply pursue economic growth at any cost.”