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Japan
3. Mr. Huw Edwards (Monmouth): If he will make a statement about Britain's relations with Japan. [120872]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Keith Vaz): We have a close and strategic partnership with Japan based on strong trade and investment ties, a shared interest in a peaceful and prosperous world, and a commitment to expanding the already wide range of people-to-people links.
I should also like to take this opportunity to express our sadness at the death, at the weekend, of former Prime Minister Obuchi. We offer our condolences to his family.
Mr. Edwards: I am grateful to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the Government's positive attitude to Europe is one of the reasons why there is so much Japanese investment in Britain? Does he also agree that the reason why there is so much Japanese investment in Wales is the success of the Welsh Development Agency--whose chairman is currently in Japan, trying to enlist more Japanese investment in Wales? I should also point out that next year will be UK-Japan year, which will allow an opportunity to reinforce the United Kingdom's tremendous links with Japan.
Mr. Vaz: I am delighted to agree with my hon. Friend. As he knows, more than 40 per cent. of Japanese investment in the European Union comes to the United Kingdom because of our strategic position in Europe. As he will also know, 56 Japanese companies are prospering in Wales because of the Government's policies and the activities of the Welsh Development Agency--starting with Sony, in 1973.
I should like to thank my hon. Friend for his links with the Japanese Parliament. I know that he is a member of the House of Commons rugby team, which frequently has matches with the Japanese, and that, at the most recent match, the House team beat the Japanese--no doubt because he was playing.
Sir Peter Tapsell (Louth and Horncastle): Given that, under the United States-Japan security treaty, Japan is the mother port for the US seventh fleet, on which the security of the whole region depends, what obligations does Britain have in the event of an attack on Taiwan from the Chinese mainland?
Mr. Vaz: Relations between the United States of America, Japan and the United Kingdom are excellent--we are all members of the G8--and I am sure that those excellent relations will continue.
Burma
4. Mr. Tony Colman (Putney): What steps he is taking to promote democratic rights in Burma. [120873]
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Robin Cook): We are deeply concerned at the brutality of the military in Burma, the systematic use of forced labour and the displacement of ethnic minorities. Within the European Union, Britain recently proposed measures that have toughened Europe's common position against the regime in Burma. Within the International Labour Organisation, we have vigorously supported the decision to invoke article 33--for the first time in the organisation's 80-year history--against Burma.
During my visit to Thailand last month, I took the opportunity to visit a refugee camp for those who had been forced out of Burma by the military. I pledged to them that we would not relax our pressure on the regime in Burma until it respected the democratic rights of all the people of Burma.
Mr. Colman: I thank my right hon. Friend not only for that action by the Government, but for the further action that he has taken in encouraging Premier Oil to withdraw its investment and stop its work in Burma. In the past day, we have seen newspaper reports of Premier Oil's admission, at its annual general meeting, that democratic abuses have occurred in Burma. Has the Secretary of State had discussions with Bjorn Stigson, chief executive of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development--which represents all the major multinationals and is greatly concerned about democratic rights in the countries where multinationals work--to determine the possibility of organising an investment boycott by multinationals in Burma? Such a boycott would ensure that if, as I hope, Premier Oil steps out of Burma, other multinationals do not step in.
Mr. Cook: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his suggestion. We shall pursue that with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. I have already raised the issue with my colleagues in the European Union. I noted with interest what was said at Premier Oil's annual meeting yesterday. I fully understand the concerns of the shareholders about the investment in Burma. We have called on Premier Oil to consider whether withdrawing from Burma would be consistent with its legal responsibilities. It is important that the company should consider withdrawing, because if it continued with its development it would produce a revenue stream that would be available to buttress a regime that is in great difficulty.
Mrs. Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham): Yesterday, Baroness Scotland, the Foreign Office Minister in another place, announced that the presence of reputable companies in Burma does not help the democratic cause. The Foreign Secretary has just said that it is now official Foreign Office policy to lean on reputable companies trading in Burma, such as Premier Oil. When the Minister wrote to Premier Oil pressurising it to pull out of the country, did the Foreign Office also write to other companies trading in Burma, such as HSBC, GEC and BAT, asking them to pull out? If that
policy applies to Burma, why does it not apply to other countries with similar human rights records, such as Algeria, Cuba and China--or is this yet another example of the double standards practised by a Foreign Secretary who has made a mockery of the words "ethical" and "moral"?
Mr. Cook: Premier Oil is way ahead of all the rest of British investment in Burma added together. It also publicly claimed that the Foreign Office had told the company that we did not have a view. If it wishes to go public on that, it cannot complain if the Foreign Office takes care to make plain its view on the matter. As for the hon. Lady's last point, if she took the time and the courtesy outside the House to speak to the Burma Campaign or to make contact with any of the many people such as those whom I saw in Thailand who had been evicted from Burma, she would understand full well why we have adopted our policy on human rights in Burma.
Southern Africa
5. Mr. David Borrow (South Ribble): What steps he is taking to promote trade with and economic development in southern African countries. [120874]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Hain): I pay tribute to my hon. Friend on his successful visit to Botswana and his discussions at the headquarters of the Southern Africa Development Community. Through British Trade International, we continue to alert British business to the many commercial opportunities in southern Africa, including a major three-year trade and investment campaign for South Africa.
Mr. Borrow: Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the effects of the illicit diamond trade in southern Africa? Is he aware that Mr. Sankoh, the leader of the rebellion in Sierra Leone, was recently planning a diamond deal in southern Africa to fund his murderous campaign?
Madam Speaker: Order. The question is about southern Africa.
Mr. Borrow: I was asking my hon. Friend whether he was aware of the role of the illicit diamond trade in southern Africa. I was giving a current example of the contact between the rebel leader in Sierra Leone and diamond dealers in South Africa, which is enabling Mr. Sankoh to fund his murderous rebellion in Sierra Leone. Does not that demonstrate that the Government's policy of campaigning against blood diamonds is correct and the role of British troops in Sierra Leone should be supported?
Mr. Hain: I agree with my hon. Friend and congratulate him on his ingenuity and expertise in raising this important matter. There are many important diamond operations in southern Africa--in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana--that contribute enormously to the economic success of those countries. We back them, but we totally oppose the blood diamond trade in places such as Angola and Sierra Leone because it continues to fuel the conflicts in those regions. That is why we are pressing
for an international self-certification scheme by the diamond trade, backed by Governments, to stop the trade in blood diamonds and ensure that dreadful conflicts such as the one that we are seeking to resolve in Sierra Leone at the moment are not perpetuated. It is the diamond trade that keeps them going.
Mr. Bowen Wells (Hertford and Stortford): Can the Minister describe the new arrangements that he, the Foreign Office and Ministers in the Department of Trade and Industry are making for the promotion of trade with southern Africa?
Mr. Hain: Through British Trade International, which is a freshly launched agency, we are taking several initiatives to promote such trade and investment. In a recent speech in Durban--sorry, in Cape Town--[Interruption.] I shall make a speech on the economic opportunities for trade and investment in southern Africa in Durban next month, if the Opposition can contain themselves. Those initiatives are partly why President Mbeki is visiting London with South African ministerial colleagues, including the Trade Minister, in the next few days for a high-level meeting.
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