A Conservative minister has said Chinese political activist Ai Weiwei was wrong to say Britain was willing to “sacrifice very essential values" for short-sighted gains in business.
During a discussion in the House of Commons on Thursday about human rights in China, Labour MP Andy Slaughter told Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire that Chinese state media had commended George Osborne for visiting the country and being "the first Western official in recent years who focused on business potential rather than raising a magnifying glass to human rights". Slaughter asked Swire whether Ai had been "right to say this week that this government is sacrificing essential values for short-term gain".
But Swire insisted Ai was "absolutely wrong" to say Britain was ignoring human rights abuse in China, and said Osborne did in fact raise concerns during his trip. For example, Swire said, in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, Osborne called for the release of Ilham Tohti.
Tohti, an academic who is critical of Chinese policies, was convicted on a life sentence for separatism.
Xinjiang is a well-known source of tension for Chinese officials, as human rights officials have contested that Uyghurs in the area have been stripped of their religious freedoms. Human rights organisations criticised Osborne's visit for putting business interests ahead of human rights issues.
Activists have been angered by Chinese president Xi Jinping's four-day state visit to the UK this week, and some said the government has not done enough to raise concerns. MPs have also said that the Chinese steel industry is taking business away from the UK. Following a question by the BBC on Wednesday, Xi said China "places great importance" on human rights.
As an activist, Ai has worked to uncover human rights abuses, and he has accused the Chinese government of corruption. In 2011 he was arrested for 81 days without having any official charge brought against him.
Swire said the government had apologised to Ai after his application for a six-month visa to the UK was rejected after he was accused of lying on the application form.
Ai posted the rejection on his Instagram account:
He was later given a six-month visa after home secretary Theresa May intervened.
But Ai has remained critical of the government's stance. Speaking to Sky News, he said: “I think the British prime minister has had a record of putting human rights aside which is very bad strategy and also is a very bad aesthetics, because this certainly doesn't represent the British people.
"For British I have to say, if they sacrifice very essential values just for this short-sighted gain in business, this is wrong, this is absolutely lowering their standards and it is not going to have a very bright future. ... When they see Mr Cameron [has] not put human rights as an issue, [that] will make people very disappointed.”
During the Commons discussion, Swire described the state visit as "hugely positive", and said Britain's increasingly close ties with China would allow the UK to place more pressure on human rights in the future.
But Labour MP Jim Winnick remained unimpressed, asking the minister: "Do we really have to grovel to every dictatorship going that treat human rights with such total contempt as China is doing?"