§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have studied reports of a recent speech by Vice-Premier Li Lanqing to the Chinese Communist Party's supreme decision-making body in which he is alleged to have stated that 37,792 detentions of members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement took place in Peking between July and October of this year; and what representations 49WA about this have they made to the Government of China in pursuance of their foreign policy human rights commitments. [HL264]
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalWe are concerned about the reports of the detention and ill treatment of large numbers of Falun Gong adherents in China. We understand that many of those arrested since the group was banned in July 1999 have now been released but that a significant number are still detained without charge or awaiting trial. A small number have already been tried and given long sentences.
We have raised our concerns on this issue with the Chinese authorities in our continuing dialogue on human rights. My honourable friend the Minister of State did so recently with the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, Wang Yingfan, on 9 November in Peking. We shall continue to make our concerns known to the Chinese authorities.