Britain will have to balance “very clear” country security issues, especially above China, to be an advertising country “outside” in the gentile of its “fragile” economy, according to a foreign minister.
Catherine West said that the country will sometimes “get involved” in nations whose values ”may not align absolutely with ours”, and that British Hong Kong corporations say it is “so beautiful” when deputies are visited.
He added Britain’s “quite exposed position” after Brexit meant it wants to “look outward into our economy if we need our citizens and electorate away from food banks. “
His comments came here when he defended that of Foreign Minister Rachel Reeves in China after arrest orders issued for prodemocratic activists living in the United Kingdom.
Former conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who is among several parliamentarians sanctioned through China, said that arrest orders are “the most recent act of a Chinese communist party that does not care what countries like countries like the countries like the countries like United Kingdom “while pressing the sanctions to the sanctions. be tax.
Several other MPs voiced concerns over the safety of Hongkongers living in the UK.
Foreign Minister Reeves is expected to be in China this week to talk with the Vice Prime Minister He Lifeng after an assembly between Sir Keir Starmer and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in November.
Mrs. West rejected the calls to cancel when the deputies wondered why she continued after the Hong Kong Police presented prizes for data that led to the arrest of six activists, 4 of which recently live in the kingdom.
In an urgent question in the Commons, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the warrants “show this Government’s supposed reset with China is just one way”.
She said: “Before the president of the XI Assembly, the prime minister said he sought a coherent, sustainable and respectful relationship, and said that the couple agreed that there are no more surprises. “
Give me Priti added: “Can the minister verify with an undeniable yes yes or not, if the chancellor can accumulate those bonds at the highest point when he fly again in China next week to carry out a quick investment for the rescue of Your failure of the economic strategy?
Mrs. West replied: “We are in a position in which our economy is quite fragile, and we have very transparent national security problems, and today it is a very intelligent example, we want to balance those who face outside the doors and around of the global commercial nation, where we should often worry in other countries where their values would possibly not completely align with ours.
“And so I make no apologies for trying to support British business abroad, including in Hong Kong, where British businesses have said it is so lovely to see MPs visit us.”
Liberal foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller also suggested the government “reconsider” the chancellor’s adventure to Beijing, in the soft of the mandates and the non-stop detention of Jimmy Lai.
Pro-democracy supporter Mr Lai was jailed in late 2020 in Hong Kong, and is currently being held in solitary confinement after being accused of violating the territory’s national security law.
Ms West said she had “personally promised” Mr Lai’s son that she would raise his father’s case, adding: “Unfortunately, because of our position laid out after Brexit, we will have to look externally at our economy if we need our citizens and electorate to move away from food banks.
Labour MP Sarah Owen (Luton North) sought assurances that UK police forces fully understand the “seriousness of the threat” to the safety of Hongkongers on UK soil.
Labour MP Mark Sewards (Leeds, South West and Morley) highlighted the case of British resident Chloé Cheung and that he had been subjected to a £100,000 bonus for “telling the truth” about Mr Lai.
Ms West said she would ensure that a “specially designed demand for protection” evolves for the woman if Mr felt more to do.
After the Liberal Democrat Deputy, the Dean (Carshalton and Wallington) advised the government to “cancel the foreign minister’s visit” to China, Mrs. West said: “There will be no travel cancellations on the basis that there must be a detail of external concentrate through the external concentrate through the external concentrate United Kingdom, namely, given the economic legacy and the position in which we are.
Luke of Pulford, director of the Interparliamentary Alliance on China, described the comments of Mrs. West about the negotiation objectives of the United Kingdom as a “shocking entry. “
He wrote on social media site X: “Erm, no. We don’t trade away our national security.”
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