§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Chinese authorities concerning recent political attacks on Christian churches and the death of a Chinese Christian, Liu Haitao, following his detention. [145854]
§ Mr. BattleWe are concerned at the disturbing reports of the destruction of non-official Catholic and Protestant Churches, and Buddhist and Taoist temples in Wenzhou, China in late 2000 and the death of Liu Haitao. Such activities run contrary to the provisions on religious freedoms contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which China signed in October 1998.
We regularly press the Chinese authorities to respect these provisions and to permit free religious worship outside the parameters of the official Churches in China. We did so at the latest session of the UK/China human rights dialogue in October 2000. We have raised specific concerns about the destruction of Churches and Temples in Wenzhou, and the case of Liu Haitao. We will address again the whole issue of freedom of religious belief in strong terms during the next round of the high level UK/China human rights dialogue in Beijing between 12–14 February.