§ Mr. JackTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's position with reference to the Chinese Government's response to the human rights demonstrations held in XUAR on 5 February. [104745]
§ Mr. RammellMarches by Uighurs protesting about the banning of meshreps (a traditional form of social gathering) took place in Gulja, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on 5 February 1997.
We regularly raise our concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang through the biannual UK/ China Human Rights Dialogue and continue to stress to the Chinese authorities that the international fight against terrorism must not be used as an excuse to repress people who engage in non-violent political activity or hold unauthorised religious beliefs.