FOREIGN Secretary Dominic Raab slapped new restrictions on businesses to stop them profiting from China’s “barbaric” treatment of Uyghur muslims in Xinjiang province.
Brit businesses will be issued with new guidance and risk heavy fines if found to be using products made by slave labour in the region.
He said penalties will be strengthened in the Modern Slavery Act while firms will be handed new guidance to help stop the immoral work.
The rules will also now apply to the public sector, and Mr Raab also announced an urgent review of export controls to the province.
Mr Raab told the House of Commons of the raft of abuses committed in the Chinese region on the minority muslim population, which has seen the community forced into internment camps for political re-education and forced labour.
He also said torture and forced sterilisation was happening to the population “on an industrial scale.”
The Foreign Secretary told MPs: “It is truly horrific barbarism we had hoped was lost to another era, in practice today, as we speak, in one of the leading members of the international community.
“We have a moral duty to respond.”
But Mr Raab was called out for not calling the atrocities genocide by leading MPs, including Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith.
The former Tory party leader asked why Magnitsky sanctions on Chinese leaders in the region had been blocked.
Mr Duncan Smith suggested Mr Raab backed the targeted sanctions, and added: “I wonder who it is in government that is blocking this – He can perhaps whisper it in this chamber to me and I promise him, I won’t tell anybody else outside.
“But the reality is, we need those now, because the evidence is clear.”
Mr Raab replied “we have certainly not ruled out” further sanctions on the leftie state.
On the new business measures, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Britain will always stand up for those suffering dreadful human rights abuses and today we are bringing forward measures which will help protect the minority populations in Xinjiang.
“Businesses and public bodies must be more vigilant than ever before and ensure they are not inadvertently allowing forced labour in their supply chains.”
And Trade Secretary Liz Truss added: “These new measures demonstrate that we will not turn a blind eye nor tolerate complicity in the human rights abuses taking place in Xinjiang.
“Forced labour, anywhere in the world, is unacceptable. This government wants to work with businesses to support responsible practices, and ensure British consumers are not unwittingly buying products that support the cruelty we are witnessing against the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.”
Meanwhile No10 said it was committed to an investigation into the origin of covid in China, and called on Beijing to allow the probe to start as soon as possible.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “We’ve been clear on the investigation and on our desire for it to commence and answer the questions that are still outstanding
“I believe investigators are now due to arrive in China (on the 14th) and as we’ve said throughout it’s important that their investigation is able to commence without delay and we want it to make sure it is open and transparent and scientifically rigorous.”
The China Research Group of MPs welcomed the move to tackle human rights violations in China and ensure that supply chains are free from slave labour.
Tom Tugendhat MP said: “We have compelling evidence of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese government in Xinjiang.
“I am glad to see the UK leading the way in taking sustained action in response to continued CCP violations of human rights. It is essential that these new rules are comprehensively enforced.
“We must continue to work with like-minded democracies to protect universal human rights.”
Neil O’Brien MP added: “I am pleased to see the government adopt some of the policies that the China Research Group has recommended.
“Today’s announcement represents an important step in the UK government’s recognition of the CCP’s increasing internal repression. We now need to see a much more joined-up approach in government towards China.”
But Tory MP Nus Ghani said: “The Government’s failure to call out these atrocities for what they are – genocide – is chilling.
She added:
“Two million Uighurs and other minorities are being forced into slave labour prisons and camps in Xinjiang’s cotton fields, and we’ve seen state organised violation and abuse of women and girls who are facing forced sterilisations.
“It is truly horrific, so the Government is right to bring in today’s measures.
“UK businesses must not profit from slave labour and human rights violations, wherever they occur.
“But today’s measures don’t address genocide and the Government’s failure to call out these atrocities for what they are – genocide – is chilling.”
