Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns told the UK government to “get a grip on China issues” on Thursday after a minister defended a potential visit of Xinjiang Governor Erkin Tuniyaz.
MPs urged the government not to give him a visa and to ramp up sanctions against human rights abusers in China.
Tuniyaz, governor and deputy Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary in Xinjiang, had served as the region’s deputy governor since 2008.
The U.S. Treasury department sanctioned him in 2021 under the Global Magnitsky Act, saying more than a million Uyghurs had been detained in Xinjiang during his tenure.
During an urgent question session in Parliament on Thursday, Leo Docherty, parliamentary under secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), confirmed a report by The Guardian that Tuniyaz may visit the UK next week and meet officials, but denied sending an invitation….