Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he “detected” during a recent visit that China recognises sanctions on British MPs are a “big issue” for the two countries.
Mr Lammy said the issue of sanctioned MPs had been raised with the Chinese government as “a matter of huge concern” while he was in Beijing and Shanghai.
His comments came during an urgent question, when Conservative former minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he would never accept a “shameful deal” between the Chinese and UK Governments that involved mutual removal of sanctions.
Sir Iain, a former party leader who has been sanctioned by China, said: “Last week the Leader of the Opposition asked the Prime Minister whether the Foreign Secretary would tell the Chinese government to lift the sanctions on parliamentarians, and the Prime Minister responded yes, he would.
“Yet I see from the Foreign Office readout that the Foreign Secretary didn’t even raise it, let alone call on the Chinese government to lift those sanctions.”
Sir Iain added: “I just heard that there is a move in the Foreign Office to lift British sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for that brutal genocide in Xinjiang, as a deal to lift the sanctions on parliamentarians here.
“Can I just simply say to the Foreign Secretary, I must tell him that I, for one, would never accept such a shameful deal at any price and I hope he will stamp on that straightaway.”
Mr Lammy said: “I absolutely raised, as I assured the Speaker I would, the position of parliamentarians. Of course I did. I raised it not just with the foreign minister but also with the spokesperson for foreign affairs for the Chinese Communist Party. Of course I raised it, as a matter of huge concern.
“And I raised the threats and the aggression that we’re now seeing in the South China Sea. Jimmy Lai I raised, Members of this House I raised, Xinjiang I raised, Hong Kong I raised.
“It would be totally unacceptable, frankly, for any UK foreign minister to go to China and not raise these issues of tremendous concern.
“(Sir Iain) knows that the last government bounced around on China. The last government had a golden era, he was part of that government that had their golden era, that were drinking pints with President Xi, but the former prime minister and former foreign secretary was found lobbying on behalf of Chinese Belt and Road initiatives.
“So really, I’m not going to take any lessons from the opposition on how to handle China.”
Later in the session, Conservative former minister Sir Alec Shelbrooke pressed Mr Lammy on whether he had been “robust” and pushed the Chinese government for a timeline on removing sanctions on MPs.
The Wetherby and Easingwold MP said: “In his self-declared robust conversations with the Chinese government, did he give a time limit especially in relation to lifting of sanctions on British politicians, members of this House, and did he outline consequences if that wasn’t to happen?
“Or were his talks just chats and not robust?”
Mr Lammy replied: “I didn’t give a timeline, I simply said that the sanctions should be lifted and explained why it’s just wrong to sanction members in a democratic chamber like this. It’s counter-productive frankly. So that was my position, and I defend that, I think it was the right thing to say.
“I raised the issue with the Speaker actually before leaving, just to be absolutely clear on the current status.
“Whilst one can’t be entirely sure that what one is conveying is going in, and is properly understood, I did detect Wang Yi recognising that this was a big issue between our two countries.”
During the urgent question, Mr Lammy said he will meet with Jimmy Lai’s family, because the idea of the British-Hongkonger dying in prison is an “abomination”.
Publisher Mr Lai is being held in solitary confinement in prison for breaking the Hong Kong government’s national security law,
Elsewhere, DUP MP Sammy Wilson claimed the UK had been left vulnerable to “blackmail” from China.
The East Antrim MP said: “We have a Foreign Secretary of State who is enthusiastic about giving trillions of UK taxpayers’ money in reparations for slavery which occurred hundreds of years ago.
“Yet when it comes to modern day slavery in China, despite what has been said, he says was said privately, publicly all we get is a mealy-mouthed press release readout from the Foreign Office which doesn’t even specifically mention the issue. Why is this?
“Is it that the Government realises now that we’re dependent upon China for so many things, including the delivery of the net zero policy, when China controls 70% of the earth metals, which we are going to need to deliver renewable energy?
“We have left ourselves open to that kind of blackmail and now we can’t speak up against human rights abuses.”
Mr Lammy replied: “This Government has been in power for three months, and we’ve got a lot to clear up from the mess that was left to us. He’s right about that, that’s why it begins with the China audit.”
