26 July 2000

Dear Mr XX,

Mr Hague has asked me to thank you for your recent letter and to reply on his behalf.

He has carefully noted your comments. Mr Hague very much understands the concerns you speak of. Since the massacre in Tiananmen Square in 1989, each year the Conservative Government supported a motion at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), criticising China's human rights record. When, in 1997, the EU decided not to sponsor a motion, the Conservative Government decided to co-sponsor one instead.

In April 2000, for the third year running, Labour failed to sponsor such a motion either through the EU, or as a co-sponsor. [...] This was before the ill-starred visit to Britain of President Jiang Zemin and the heavy-handed policing of peaceful protesters.

Although it will not be possible for Mr Hague to accompany Lord Avebury due to the considerable pressures that are already on his diary for October, I can assure you that Mr Hague and Francis Maude will continue to highlight human rights in China.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours sincerely

Ian Philps

Correspondence Secretary