China (Hansard, 17 May 1993)

§ Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to seek an EC boycott of goods manufactured by slave labour in China's prison camps; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Goodlad
We have no plans to seek such a boycott. In the United Kingdom the Foreign Prison-Made Goods Act of 1897 prohibits the direct import of goods made, or wholly produced in any foreign prison, or like establishment. We have repeatedly made clear to the Chinese authorities our concern about the widespread abuses of human rights in China and urged them, and other countries who have not yet done so, to ratify the relevant international instruments covering slavery, forced labour and similar practices.
44W

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has received about(a) the use of intra-uterine devices in China compared with other contraceptives and (b) the fining of women refusing or removing IUDs.

§ Mr. Goodlad
According to official Chinese reports, IUD use represented 41 per cent. of total contraceptive use in 1989.
We are concerned that family planning regulations in some provinces stipulate the imposition of fines if IUDs are removed without prior approval.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the practice of infanticide in China of babies born without state permission.

§ Mr. Goodlad
None. We are looking into this allegation urgently.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of(a) the draft model laws on population control issued by the Chinese central Government and (b) the laws made by individual provincial Governments; and what representations he has made.

§ Mr. Goodlad
We are concerned that some provinces appear to have coercive family planning regulations. We are opposed to the use of any coercion in population programmes and the Chinese Government are fully aware of our views.

§ Mr. Alton
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has received about measures taken against parents by Chinese Government officials where women refuse sterilisation or abortion.

§ Mr. Goodlad
None. We are looking into this allegation urgently.