§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that United Kingdom aid is not used to subsidise coerced abortion and sterilisation in China. [27088]
§ Mr. HanleyAll UK bilateral aid to China has clear objectives. Our projects aim to guarantee good water supplies, to strengthen transport infrastructure, to assist with China's severe environmental problems, to improve English language teaching and to promote good government. Projects are carefully designed and monitored to ensure that UK aid is used for the purposes intended. No bilateral aid gives any support to China's family planning programmes. Projects and programmes in China funded by the International Planned Parenthood Federation, IPPF, and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA, are subject to equally close supervision. Annual spending by IPPF and UNFPA in China is equivalent to less than 0.8 per cent. of the sum spent annually by China on its family planning programmes.
§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what specific steps he has taken to ensure that the financial, technical and management resources available through the United Nations Fund for Population Activities do not enable the Chinese authorities to enforce coercive population control programmes more vigorously; and if he will make a statement. [27009]
§ Mr. HanleyWe regularly discuss with, and advise, senior officials of the UNFPA on matters concerning its current activities and future plans in China. As a result of this dialogue, we are satisfied that the activities that UNFPA currently funds in China do not in any way encourage coercive practices, but have promoted the health and welfare of Chinese women and children, especially in poorer regions of the country. UNFPA's current programme is approaching completion. Any new UNFPA programme in China would be subject to approval by the fund's governing body. If necessary, the UK Government, in partnership with like-minded board members and observers, will use this additional mechanism to influence the outcome of a future decision relating to a new UNFPA programme in China and to ensure that any such programme is fuily consistent with the programme of action of the international conference on population and development agreed in Cairo in September 1994.