Barry Sheerman: ...their influence. We must be wary at every level. Does the Home Secretary think our intelligence services are equipped to cope with the real challenge that we now face from Russia, and indeed from China? Has he been picking up what I am picking up from a lot of my old friends in Washington? Not only are they very disturbed about Russian influence on American elections, but I have heard very...
Catherine West: To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent diplomatic steps he has taken to support freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK Government consistently raises human rights issues with the Chinese authorities, including in relation to Tibet. I raised human rights during my visit to China in April, and the Foreign Secretary did so in a meeting in February with China's Foreign Minister. We also regularly raise concerns about China's actions in Tibet in multilateral fora, for example, in January at China's...
Stewart McDonald: China has now hacked the data of defence personnel, the Electoral Commission and various other public institutions, and has targeted many Members of this House, yet plans by China’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, Ming Yang Smart Energy, to build its largest European facility right here in the UK advance at pace. The facility is set to be built in Scotland. Given widely shared concerns...
Lord Leigh of Hurley: ...affected at all. We are talking about institutional behaviour. Yes, as the noble Lord, Lord Willetts, has pointed out, what happens in universities really matters. I also went on a trade trip to China with the vice-chancellors. I remember, because they were the ones sitting in business class. They are a very important part of the fabric of our society—
Bob Seely: ...the 21st century, and the Secretary of State was right to point out that each century or each generation redefines war. This is a redefinition of conflict for our own era, and we are seeing it from China. The Russians are very conflict-minded, but so far the Chinese place less emphasis on physical, conventional force and more emphasis on the tools of economy, using Huawei, cyber-attacks...
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: ...that the noble Lord, Lord Warner, has referred to Saudi Arabia is zero; Yemen, zero; Myanmar, zero; Sudan, zero; the Uighurs, zero; North Korea, zero; Congo, zero; Venezuela, zero; Iran, zero; China, one, in the context of a speech on the West Bank; Syria, one, in the context of a speech on Gaza; Ukraine, one, to ask why we do not treat Israel the same way we treat Russia; Israel and...
Lord Purvis of Tweed: ...about trade deficits is old fashioned, and that our economy is a service-sector economy. However, the trade deficit is very important when we analyse who that deficit is with. It is primarily with China. Yes, that is an indication of the growth in the economy of Asia, but the UK now has the biggest trade deficit with a single country ever in our history. The deficit with China is more than...
Lord Collins of Highbury: ...the scope of dealing with BDS. People have asked whether it will stop them dealing with the ethical issues that the Government have asked them to deal with. Many people in the other place raised China. Who would advocate a blanket ban on China? You could not—our trade ties are so huge—but there are areas that we can certainly exercise concern about, particularly in Xinjiang, where we...
John Healey: ...are well known to be the soft underbelly of security, and this latest hack raises serious questions about how the MOD manages its outsourced services. The media have clearly been briefed that China is behind the hack, but the Defence Secretary tells us only about a “malign actor”. The Government rightly have a rigorous system before official accusations or attributions are made, but if...
Emma Harper: ...about the cyberattack displays the very real implications for staff and the public of cyberattacks, with personal details now bring freely published on the dark web. We also saw just yesterday that China successfully hacked the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. Such attacks will continue to happen and will have serious consequences. Can the cabinet secretary give a commitment that the...
Gregory Campbell: To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of gold purchased by the Chinese government on the risk of a conflict in Taiwan.
Chris Philp: .... However, nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid, have been linked to more than 100 deaths in the UK during the last year. The NCA assess that these substances are manufactured in illicit labs in China and have no evidence to suggest they are manufactured in the UK. Through the cross-Government Synthetic Opioids Taskforce we are taking action and are working to enhance our drug harms...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: ..., what action they are taking to combat the sale and advertisement of such drugs on the internet, and what response they have received from any representations they have made to the government of China in this regard.
Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the announcement on 19 March 2024 by China's Ministry of Defence of the establishment of the Information Support Force.
Leo Docherty: The 19th Western Pacific Naval Symposium took place in Qingdao, China in April 2024. The Royal Navy was represented by the First Sea Lord, supported by three members of the Naval Staff. Other Chiefs of Navy (or their representatives) attended from: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Republic of...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the production and distribution of illicit drugs from China, especially synthetic opioids such as nitazenes; and what estimate they have made of scale on which such drugs are smuggled into the UK.
Andrew Bridgen: Mainly because of this House’s worship of the false idol of net zero, electricity costs to businesses in the UK are four and a half times higher than those in China and three times higher than those in India. Can the Minister explain how manufacturing businesses in the UK can compete with that on world markets?
...vested interest of big tobacco is to maintain the status quo. The issue of profitability in e-cigarettes is more difficult to talk about for the private companies because many of them are based in China and do not publish their accounts, so it is difficult to tell how much, if any, profit they are making. Ultimately, companies cannot continue in existence if they are losing money, so it is...
Alan Mak: .... I turn next to airports, the beating heart of the UK’s trading economy. Already, the UK—and therefore its businesses—boasts the third largest aviation network in the world after the USA and China. As my hon. Friend knows, Gatwick continues to demonstrate incredible innovation with its existing assets, with the busiest and most efficient single runway in the world. I know that there...
