Amendment 5

Part of Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill - Report – in the House of Lords at 6:30 pm on 29 June 2020.

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Photo of Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Labour 6:30, 29 June 2020

My Lords, I fully support this amendment and am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and his colleagues for pursuing it so strongly. My particular interest is in stopping the systematic killing of prisoners of conscience for the commercial exploitation of organ transplants. Chinese transplant volume grew thirtyfold between 1999 and 2005, and the number of transplant hospitals increased from about 150 to over 1,000 by 2007. China quickly came to perform the most transplants in the world, despite the absence of a voluntary organ donation system. The industry has continued to grow.

My particular concern with this amendment is that it was reported that between January 2017 and spring 2018, approximately 5 million Uighur Muslims were arbitrarily detained for unwanted blood, tissue and DNA tests. These were followed by the recent mass detention of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province and fuelled suspicions that tests were part of a commercial organ drive by China.

In 2018 an independent inquiry into forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience was begun in London. Known as the China Tribunal, it was chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC. In its final judgment it concluded:

“Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale and … Falun Gong practitioners have been one—and probably the main—source of organ supply. … Crimes Against Humanity against the Falun Gong and Uyghurs has been proved beyond reasonable doubt”.

There is even more concern following a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute that Huawei has developed a monitoring system used in a network of detention camps holding Uighur Muslims in China’s north-western Xinjiang region. The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, has already quoted the chilling words from a Huawei director in support of what that person described as an “era of smart policing” to

“help build a safer, smarter society.”

Chilling words indeed.

Unfortunately, like many other countries, the UK has pulled its punches when talking to China about these abhorrent practices. Of course, as the Economist pointed out this week, China’s economic power has helped it to avoid censure regarding its abuse of the Uighurs. Many companies in the West appear reluctant to use any leverage they may have to put pressure on China. That is not helped by the reluctance of so many countries to upset China. I agree with my noble friend Lord Adonis: we have to develop other suppliers before it is too late.

The Minister gave us a very positive response during our debate. She said she recognises the strength of feeling among Members and is prepared to meet with the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and colleagues before Third Reading. Those are very generous offers. She also spoke about her objections: that the amendment as drafted does not meet the intent, not least because the Bill is about broadband and not 5G; and that the Bill is essentially about broadband connections where the landlord is not co-operating, and the amendment would inhibit that. I have no doubt that the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and his fellow sponsors of the amendment will consider carefully these serious points—but was the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, not right when he said that ultimately the time has come for the UK Government to make a stand? The fact is that this is the Bill before us; it is an opportunity for us to do so. If the Government do not want this amendment, it is up to them to come forward with something else at Third Reading to show some teeth—including, as the noble Lord, Lord Alton, has said, a human rights threshold.