Xinjiang statements made by a British legislator ‘hurt UK interests’

A senior UK lawmaker is attempting to hype fabricated “forced labor” issues in China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region by reiterating his call for more scrutiny of Chinese cross-border e-commerce giant Shein’s possible London listing, which Chinese analysts debunked as politicizing and instrumentalizing human rights.

Analysts urged the Labour government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer since July not to blindly follow the same confrontational approaches and unfriendly attitude toward China as the former UK government, otherwise it would harm the UK’s national interests.

According to Reuters on Monday, Liam Byrne, a former Labour minister who heads parliament’s influential cross-party Business and Trade Committee, said he wanted to see a British version of the “Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act” that the US introduced in 2021.

In recent years, the UK has been at the forefront of stigmatizing China on human rights issues. “The UK is trying to expand its influence on the global stage by taking the lead in hyping such issues, and encouraging key allies such as the US to intensify its efforts against China,” Li Guanjie, a research fellow with the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies under the Shanghai International Studies University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Facts have proven that the political plotting by a few countries like the UK and the US to destabilize Xinjiang region and contain China has long been seen through by the world and has already completely failed.

Li believes the Labour government is likely to uphold the fundamental policies toward China established by the Conservatives.

While it remains to be seen what approaches the new UK government will adopt toward China, experts noted that as the UK faces a chaotic economic situation, it needs to engage with China to address its domestic challenges, and there remains huge potential for pragmatic, win-win cooperation. China and the UK can cooperate in a wide range of areas, including on green development, the digital sector and climate change.