Activists protested the UK’s red carpet treatment for one of the key authors of China’s transnational repression.
by Ruth Ingram
Uyghur activists are enraged that one of the architects of China’s brutal so-called “fugitive recovery operations” of exiles fleeing CCP oppression, has been feted by the UK government.
Last minute attempts to block the arrival in Britain of Liu Jianchao, Minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CCP, were thwarted by the British foreign secretary James Cleverly, whose moves towards renewed rapprochement with China have dismayed campaigners.
Liu was in the UK to take part in the Great Britain China Council leadership forum, where he met senior British politicians past and present. Lawmakers had hoped that Liu might be arrested on arrival in the UK for his role in transnational crime.
The planned platforming of the man responsible for the forceable extradition of more than 9000 exiles to face oppression in their homeland, went ahead in front of a live and online audience at the international affairs think tank, Chatham House, where Liu laid out his blueprint for China’s future development.
The UK’s showcasing of a man, responsible for extra legal campaigns to rein in dissidents and their placement in a network of secret detention facilities known as “liuzhi,” has horrified peers and lawmakers who wrote to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asking him to intervene.
The rights group Safeguard Defenders presented a 21-page dossier on Liu’s activities, in support of the bid by the international, cross party legislator’s group, IPAC (Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China) to prevent his entry into the UK. Campaign Director of the group, Laura Harth pointed out that, “under Liu’s 2015–2017 tenure, PRC statements account for how at least two residents on UK soil were illegally coerced to return to China for prosecution outside legal judicial frameworks.”
In a letter to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, members of IPAC wrote, “Mr. Liu is a figure who has presided over human rights abuses on a global scale, bearing overall responsibility for kidnapping, trapping, ‘persuasion to return’ of thousands of overseas Chinese in gross violation of domestic law and international human rights standards.”
Continuing, “we fully appreciate that bilateral diplomacy with China requires forbearance and willingness to deal with those who do not share our values. A line is crossed, however, when attempts are made to normalize visits from someone so clearly responsible for serious crime and human rights abuses across the world, including in our own country,” citing the attack on UK residents as, “in direct violation of the UK’s sovereignty and the individual’s fundamental rights.”
Lord David Alton in the House of Lords questioned the “new Golden Era embrace of the CCP,” and urged the government to re-evaluate its stance on China. He criticized the under the radar arrival in the UK of Liu, whom he described as “notorious for his human rights record in the PRC.” “Would we not do better to build up British national resilience rather than continuing dependency on a country which threatens our interests and the rest of the world?” he asked.
Minister of State Anne-Marie Trevelyan, however was upbeat about the visit and the opportunity to set out her “deep concerns on issues from Hong Kong security to human rights abuses in Xinjiang.”
Rushan Abbas, CEO of the Washington DC-based Uyghur rights group, Campaign For Uyghurs, attacked the proposed visit as “a profound insult to the dissidents fighting against the CCP’s transnational repression 24/7.” She demanded he be “sanctioned and held accountable.”
Much to the chagrin of Luke de Pulford, founder and Executive Director of IPAC, whose best efforts were foiled at the last minute, the visit of Liu went ahead. He criticized as “absolutely insane that Chatham House thinks this is an appropriate person to platform.”