Amid the news that I and other parliamentarians, an academic and a QC have been sanctioned by the Chinese government, we must not lose sight of the true victims of China’s tyranny – the Muslim Uighur people and other religious and ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Each story emerging from this region is more horrifying than the last.
President Xi has authorised the construction of a vast network of modern-day concentration camps. This follows reports of mass internment, forced sterilisation, an 85 per cent decline in population size and a state-sponsored programme for the export of goods produced by slave labour.
China employs vast databases, artificial intelligence and facial recognition cameras to trace every movement of its citizens.
The Uighurs are not the only target. There is also mounting persecution of Christians, Falun Gong practitioners and the people of Tibet.
The sanctions levied on myself and my colleagues are a blatant attempt to stifle the free and open debate that is the heart of our parliamentary democracy.
Beijing should know they have only encouraged us to redouble our efforts.
To speak up for the Uighurs and other oppressed peoples and so be sanctioned by the Chinese Communist Party is no less than a badge of honour.
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