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European Union
16. Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of membership of the European Union on the implementation of the policies set out in "Free Trade and Foreign Policy: a Global Vision", Cm. 3437; and if he will make a statement. [4601]
Mr. Rifkind: The European Union has the capacity to make a decisive contribution to global trade liberalisation.
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It did so in the general agreement on tariffs and trade Uruguay round, and we shall do all we can to ensure that it continues to do so in the future.
Mr. Fabricant: I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for his answer. Do I take it from that answer that the publication of the "Global Vision" document does not mark a shift in Government policy? Would it not be a good thing for the nation if we recognised even more that growth areas are in North America and the far east, and that, sadly, economic decline still exists in continental Europe?
Mr. Rifkind: One of the most important priorities for the European Union is to achieve competitiveness, and not to initiate policies that are likely to retard economic growth. The fact that the United Kingdom is doing so relatively well in comparison with other continental countries indicates what we believe to be the priorities that the European Union should follow.
China
18. Mr. Pawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when was the last time he met the Chinese Foreign Secretary to discuss Anglo-Chinese relations; and when he expects the next meeting to take place. [4604]
Mr. Hanley: My right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary has met Foreign Minister Qian three times this year, most recently on 26 September. I have also met Mr. Qian twice this year, most recently in Peking on 2 September. My right hon. and learned Friend expects another meeting early next year.
Mr. Pawsey: I thank my right hon. Friend for that very full reply. Can he confirm, however, that the discussions that have taken place between him and our right hon. and learned Friend and the Chinese Foreign Minister covered trade issues generally? If so, can my right hon. Friend say whether there is any way in which we might expand the trade relationship that exists between the United Kingdom and China, especially in regard to heavy electrical engineering?
It may help my right hon. Friend to know that I have at the back of my mind the company known as GEC Alsthom, which provides probably the finest heavy electrical equipment in the world.
Mr. Hanley:
My hon. Friend is absolutely right, particularly on his last point. There has been a very full programme of visits between Trade Ministers. Madame Wu Yi, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, came to the United Kingdom in February this year, and Vice-Premier Li Lanqing visited us only last month, at the invitation of my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister. My right hon. Friend made an excellent visit to China, with the largest group of British business men to visit China in history. UK exports to China continue to grow.
China is a major market for UK manufacturers of electrical and engineering equipment such as GEC. Recent GEC project successes in China were responsible for a significant share of the UK's £512 million-worth of
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Dr. Godman:
When the Minister last met representatives of the Chinese Government, did he take the opportunity to voice his severe disapproval of the continuing violation of human rights of indigenous Tibetans? Surely he knows that many Buddhist monks and nuns are serving long sentences of imprisonment. They have been treated brutally simply because they have voiced their concerns about the autonomy that they wish to be returned to their country.
Mr. Hanley:
I agree with the hon. Gentleman, and I can confirm that human rights issues in China, including the situation in Tibet, are a matter of deep concern for the Government. We regularly express our concerns about those issues to the Chinese authorities. My right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary did so during his meetings in Peking with Chinese leaders in January, and with Qian Qichen in The Hague on 20 April. I expressed our concerns during my visit to China, in September, and again--as the hon. Gentleman asks directly--with Vice-Premier Li Lanqing in London on 5 November. We have also taken action with our European partners, and co-sponsored a resolution on human rights in China, including Tibet, at the 52nd UN Commission on Human Rights, in April.
Mr. Nicholas Winterton:
My right hon. Friend has been very helpful to the House in the information that he has given us today, but will he tell us just how much assistance the British Government have given to companies exporting to China? Although I should like our trade with China to increase--it is a very valuable customer, and it will be a growing customer--I do not think that any hon. Member would like to underestimate the eventual impact of the Chinese economy upon the world, or China's ability to flood the world market with a range of manufactured goods, undermining even further our own manufacturing base.
Mr. Hanley:
I understand my hon. Friend's point. It is important that we should remember that, potentially, China can be an extremely good market for British goods, but that threats can be posed by restricted or supported trade. My hon. Friend is absolutely right: we should ensure that we have the freest possible world markets and that they are not flooded by subsidised goods.
Mr. MacShane:
When the Minister meets representatives of the Chinese Communist Government, will he make clear Britain's concern about the political refugees from communism who are now in Hong Kong? He may have heard yesterday the interview on the "Today" programme with Han Dong Fan, the trade union leader who, after next July, faces arrest and disappearance. Will he make it clear that the Government expect political refugees in Hong Kong not to be harassed, arrested or persecuted after the end of next June?
Mr. Hanley:
Yes, indeed. Those issues are raised with the Chinese authorities regularly. The status of such people in Hong Kong is a matter of concern to us. We are still working on that matter.
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22. Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received from bodies committed to the promotion of United Kingdom-Japanese relations.[4608]
Mr. Hanley:
I follow closely the excellent work done by a number of groups and organisations for the promotion of United Kingdom-Japanese relations, including the Anglo-Japanese Parliamentary Group, the UK-Japan 2000 Group and the Japan Society.
Mr. Viggers:
Does my right hon. Friend agree that relations with Japan are excellent, embrace a wide range of educational and cultural links, and that trade has been improved recently by the Action Japan campaign, following other campaigns? In his discussions with his Japanese counterparts, will he nevertheless continue to bring pressure to bear on them to ensure that there is continued liberalisation of financial services, a sector in which the United Kingdom can make a major contribution to the Japanese economy, thus helping them and us?
Mr. Hanley:
I thoroughly agree with my hon. Friend. The Action Japan campaign was launched in 1994 to promote British exports to Japan and give practical help to British firms. By the end of 1995, our exports had increased by 26 per cent.--to a new record level of more than £3.7 billion. In the first nine months of this year, there has been a further increase of nearly 15 per cent.
I believe that the relationships that we have with Japan are excellent. Japan is now Britain's largest export market outside Europe and the United States. About two thirds of British exports to Japan are capital goods and industrial components, but the market that my hon. Friend mentions is important and we must encourage further liberalisation in that regard.
Mr. Faulds:
May I pay respects to the excellent work that the hon. Member for Gosport (Mr. Viggers) has done in terms of British-Japanese relations, but may I urge the Minister--and the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth (Mr. Pawsey)--that it is quite inappropriate to refer to any relations as Anglo anything? It is British relations with whatever the organisation or the country is.
Mr. Hanley:
I join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Mr. Viggers). I take the hon. Gentleman's strictures on the latter matter, and I shall try not to err so often.
26. Mr. Bernard Jenkin:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to table proposals at the forthcoming intergovernmental conference to reverse the process of legal integration in the European Community. [4612]
Mr. David Davis:
I congratulate my hon. Friend on getting two bites of the cherry.
Areas of European Union activity such as the single market require a common legislative framework. Other areas--such as foreign policy and justice and home
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Mr. Jenkin:
If my hon. Friend is to reverse the process of the imposition of the working time directive and to ensure that something similar does not happen in future, should not he congratulate himself, to start with, on his prescience in the White Paper, "A Partnership of Nations", which talked about limiting Community actions where they overstep the mark--but does not that require removal of sections of the treaty, not just changes in voting procedures?
Mr. Davis:
I think that my hon. Friend's question said the reverse. In our actions on the issue of the working time directive, we are seeking to put things back to where we believed they were at Maastricht--and where everyone else appeared to believe they were at Maastricht--which appears to have been undermined now. I regard that not as a reversal, but as a preservation of what we have.
Mr. McNamara:
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, on justice and home affairs, there should be European common standards to deal with such things as the Mafia, drug imports, terrorism and extradition? They are the proper areas in which a European Community should have a role in establishing common standards and
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Mr. Davis:
I agree that the peoples of Europe should not be subject to the depredations of the activities that he mentioned. The hon. Gentleman and I have come to a similar common conclusion on Northern Ireland in the past. However, that common aim should be advanced not through the theology of the European Court and the first pillar, but through proper intergovernmental co-operation.
For example, in the first six months of operation of the Europol drugs unit--an entirely intergovernmental body--there were 500 or 600 requests for information, and 1,400 pieces of information were provided. That was information not on small aspects of criminality, but on major drug crimes. That shows what can be done through properly applied intergovernmental action.
Mr. Jessel:
Can my hon. Friend say whether legal integration includes integration of laws on the free movement of goods within the European Union? If so, what are we to think of French people being allowed to blockade their ports so that they can get pensions at 55, to block their roads with tractors, or even to set fire to lorries containing British live animals for export? Will the Government think long and hard before increasing our involvement with such a lawless people?
Mr. Davis:
We are all horrified at the effects on British drivers and British companies of the action by French trade unions. It is most reminiscent of the behaviour of trade unions in Britain under the last Labour Government.
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