To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Chinese government about the treatment of Muslims in the Xinjiang region of that country.
Answered on
16 June 2015
We remain concerned by all restrictions on freedom of religion or belief in China, including those placed on Muslims. Officials from our Embassy in Beijing carry out regular monitoring visits to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and have observed significant restrictions on the cultural, linguistic, and religious rights of minority communities. They have seen official efforts to discourage certain Islamic dress, and restrictions on the celebration of Ramadan.
We have raised our concerns directly with the Chinese government , most recently during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue in April this year. We have highlighted them in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Report on Human Rights (www.hrdreport.fco.gov.uk), and in the UN Human Rights Council.