LONDON, January 13. / TASS /. The human rights situation in China should not impede productive cooperation between London and Beijing on a number of other issues. This was announced on Wednesday by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking to members of parliament.
"I want to live in a world in which we have good relations with China. Cases of human rights violations in the PRC should not interfere with our productive cooperation on a number of issues. I think that this approach will be in the interests of the people of Great Britain," the head of government said. … At the same time, he said, the kingdom's authorities intend to carefully approach the participation of Chinese corporations in vital infrastructure projects. At the same time, Johnson emphasized that the current British cabinet does not want to "go in the direction of rash sinophobia."
He also noted that "China's challenge to Western democracies" will be discussed at the meeting of the leaders of the G7 states, chaired this year by the United Kingdom. Other topics that London plans to pay increased attention to will be the joint fight against the coronavirus pandemic and the creation of new jobs in the member countries of the association. "The pandemic showed that the international community was not ready for this kind of phenomena. We had different approaches to quarantine restrictions, vaccination of the population, closing borders. As part of the G7, we will develop a multilateral agreement to combat pandemics," the prime minister said.
As previously noted by Bloomberg, Johnson expects to hold a meeting of the G7 leaders via videoconference at the end of February. The virtual summit is to be held in addition to the face-to-face summit, which is scheduled, according to preliminary information, in mid-June.
On Tuesday, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab announced that the kingdom will impose restrictions on doing business with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the PRC due to the alleged violation of Uyghur rights by the Chinese authorities. The renegotiation of trade relations with China will ensure that London does not export goods to the region that could contribute to human rights abuses. Organizations that deviate from these rules will be fined for violations of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act. In addition, Chinese companies that are found guilty of violating human rights in the autonomous region and using forced labor will not be able to participate in public procurement tenders.
