Jim Shannon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2014-04-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of China on the persecution of Christians in (a) Zhejiang Province and (b) elsewhere in eastern China.

Mr Hugo Swire

We have concerns about restrictions on freedom of religion and belief in China, and I raise them regularly with my Chinese counterparts. We are aware of particular recent cases, such as the demolition of Sanjiang church in Zhejiang Province and the arrest of Pastor Zhang in Henan Province, and we raise them publicly through our Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy.

As the Honourable Member will recall, on 1 May, in a debate on the floor of the house on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, I also expressed my concern about violations of the right to freedom of belief in China, in particular the closure of house churches and the treatment of Falun Gong. We also plan to raise our wide range of concerns directly with Chinese officials during the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue.