UK Lawmakers Demand Govt Block Visit From Chinese Concentration Camp Region Governor

In this April 22, 2021, photo, Erkin Tuniyaz speaks during a press conference in Urumqi in
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Kurt Zindulka

A bipartisan group of British lawmakers have called on the government to block a potential trip to the country by the governor of the Xinjiang region in Communist China, which has been accused of interning millions of ethnic minorities in concentration camps, where they are alleged to have been subjected to torture, organ harvesting, rape, forced sterilisation, and slave labour.

Erkin Tuniyaz, who has served as the top communist official in Xinjiang since last year but has had a longstanding role in the regional government, for which he was personally sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for detaining over “one million Uyghurs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups” during his tenure in office, is reportedly preparing to travel to London as soon as next week.

The controversial official, according to the Guardian was invited for talks by the Foreign Office, which notified human rights campaigners in an email of its plans, saying: “We’ve agreed to meet him at a senior official level, and intend to use the opportunity to press for a change in China’s approach and to make requests on specific issues, including individual cases.”

“Ahead of the meeting, our Directors for Open Societies and North East Asia and China, who will meet the Governor, would welcome an opportunity to hear your thoughts on potential topics or requests to raise. We’re really keen to make the most of this opportunity to push for tangible changes on the ground,” the email continued.

In response, a cross-party group of MPs, including former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have called on the government to block the trip. The seven members, all of whom are a part of the International Parliamentary Alliance on China, said in a statement: “We call upon the government to rescind any official invitation and to apologise to the UK Uyghur community for this incomprehensible and hurtful error of judgment.”

The chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Tory MP Alicia Kearns and fellow Conservative MP Bob Blackburn suggested that Tuniyaz should be denied a visa or “arrested upon arrival” in the United Kingdom.

The activist group, the World Uyghur Congress, said that “a request has been made to the Attorney General of the United Kingdom for permission to prosecute” Tuniyaz and that evidence has also been provided to the war crimes unit at London’s Metropolitan Police.

Such a possibility was downplayed by Foreign Office Minister Leo Docherty, who told the House of Commons that because the Xinjiang governor would be travelling on a diplomatic passport and has not been sanctioned by the British government, he could likely not be barred from entry or arrested on British soil.

Mr Docherty also claimed that he had not been invited by the UK government or by the FCDO [Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office] and that there is currently no official confirmation of Tuniyaz’s travel plans.

It has also been reported that Tuniyaz is planning on making a trip to Brussels, the seat of power for the European Union. While both the UK and the EU have levied sanctions against China over the internment of Uyghurs and other eithnic minorities in Xijinag, there has yet to be any indication that either plans on cutting off business ties with the region.

Many major European firms have deep economic relationships with Xinjiang specifically, including Aldi, BMW, Hugo Boss, and Volkswagen, all of which have been accused of profiting off of slave labour in the Chinese province.

The green agenda’s of Britain and Brussels have also been tied up in controversy surrounding Xinjiang, given that it is the world’s leading producer of solar panel components.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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