Lib Dems urge Raab to step up sanctions against China over Uyghur ‘genocide’

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab must “pull his finger out” and step up sanctions against China over its treatment of the Uyghurs, the Liberal Democrats have said. Layla Moran, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, told the Lib Dem online conference that the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province is “nothing short of genocide”.
“History is watching”
In a keynote address to the virtual event on Saturday 26 September, Moran said:
History is watching us. The world is looking to the UK and the international community to stand up and take action.
I wonder, has Dominic Raab seen the footage of people being led off trains to internment camps? I simply don’t believe he hasn’t. Which begs the question: why is he ignoring it? Why aren’t we automatically granting refugee status to Uighurs fleeing persecution?
What does Global Britain mean if not that? To me, it means open arms, it means leading on the world stage in taking firm action against hatred and repression. We must not turn a blind eye.
Sanctions
Moran urged the government to ban the sale of products produced in Xinjiang’s labour camps and call for Magnitsky-style sanctions. She added:
The Government must do the right thing and quickly. That includes using Magnitsky-style sanctions against state and non-state individuals who are involved in implementing these clear violations of human rights.
Read on...
The Liberal Democrats, along with colleagues across the political spectrum, are calling for an independent UN investigation, and for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to be allowed to freely enter Xinjiang.
And if we allow these companies to move their operations to the UK, or we fail to take the security threat seriously, we’re tacitly accepting that repression, the ‘re-education’, the sterilisation and other inhumane abuses as OK. It is not OK.
So, Dominic Raab, pull your finger out. You will find support across Parliament. Freeze dirty money and assets held in the UK. And send a clear message: Global Britain won’t tolerate this.
Moran, who lost to Ed Davey in the Lib Dem leadership contest last month, also suggested raising Britain’s aid budget to 1% of GNI. She said:
I’d like us to look at increasing aid spending to 1% of gross national income, with the extra 0.3% used to help tackling climate change abroad.
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
If she had the balls to call for sanctions upon the USA for its 3 MILLION forced into its slave work camps (aka “prisons”), I might have a smidgeon of respect for her. Although, tbh, that horse long bolted away, and is now camping in the Riviera drinking canned Fosters.
Neoliberals really are the fakest, least sincere, most insulting, and least decent people among us. How many ‘focus groups’ did she run that through before “running with it”?
I think its fair to claim she wouldn’t even break a pinky to help a REAL Uyghur in actual trouble where she COULD help. Pointless media soundbites are her main achievement.
“If she had the balls to call for sanctions upon the USA for its 3 MILLION forced into its slave work camps (aka “prisons”)…”
You lost all credibility with this massively contorted and incredibly obtuse statement.
Another stenographic hit piece from the Canary that doesn’t even bother to report the paucity of any credible evidence to support this alleged ‘genocide’ [at least the G word is in apostrophes]*.
Alleged examples include ‘detention centres’ that are schools & factories, family planning/birth control as ‘genocide’, suppression of the uyghur culture when the language is spoken widely, signs & documents in Uyghur, etc, forcible separation of children from parents taken selectively when kids are being dropped off at school [common scene globally], ‘uyghur prisoners’ when these are either not even in China or or just plain ordinary prisoners, etc, etc.
You wouldn’t be a member of the Chinese ruling elite or one of their minions would you?
Your comments are what is expected of someone trying to cover up such atrocities. What you say could also be applied to the Jews of Europe in the 1930/40’s.
…or maybe you can’t come to terms with the stark reality of persecution and oppression that you have to convince yourself that all is okay.
*Some sample links:
https://factcheck.afp.com/these-photos-show-protests-istanbul-and-xinjiang-and-migrant-shelter-thailand
https://www.workers.org/2019/12/44963/
Follow the money:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIJKyL_8vN4&pp=QAA%3D
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-48700786
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-26414014
All reminiscent of the re-education camps set up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Moran is a moron…………the uyghur stuff has been invented by a right wing Amerikan set-up aimed at damaging China. Why is the Canary repeating this invented twaddle ?
…and clearly you are a complete idiot for coming out with such ignorant consprancy theory crap.
Strange that concern for the political rights of a moslem community didn’t extend to, well anywhere in the middle east, or is that ‘the middoil east’.
Yep – George put it nicely in a minute & a half:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyG5v21lKTU&feature=youtu.be
Chinese persecution of the Uighurs has been ongoing for mny decades. Only now when the government seeks support for it’s new Cold War on China and Russia does it suddenly ‘remember’ The LibDems are equally as responsible, they were in Coalition government and could have done something about this when in office.
The only thing ‘new’ about this is the government publicity. Many of the public won’t have heard of this before and assume it’s new. The government is putting the information out, waiting for the public outcry and demands for action, then going about their plans for a new Cold War with full public backing.
Cynical and disgusting..
So having done nothing, we should continue to do nothing?