Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with Chinese government on protection of freedom of religious belief and human rights in Hong Kong.

Alok Sharma

We take a close interest in the respect of all rights and freedoms guaranteed for Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, including freedom of religion. In the Government’s six monthly report to the House published in February 2016 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/six-monthly-report-on-hong-kong-july-to-december-2015), we raised concerns about freedom of the press. During his meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on 9 April, the former Foreign Secretary my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) stressed the importance of respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of all residents of Hong Kong.