Foreign Secretary call with Chinese Foreign Minister - 28 July 2020

A Foreign Office spokesperson said:

The Foreign Secretary spoke to Chinese State Councillor and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, today [28 July] reiterating that the UK will work to maintain positive, constructive engagement with the Chinese Government and that both he and the Prime Minister were committed to cooperating with Beijing on shared and urgent challenges. He stressed the importance of China rebuilding trust with the international community by living up to its international responsibilities.

The Foreign Secretary said that the UK would be watching the Hong Kong Legislative Council elections in September closely, and urged China to uphold its international human rights obligations in Xinjiang in the face of credible evidence of egregious human rights violations against Uyghur Muslims.

The Foreign Ministers agreed that there are wide-ranging opportunities, from increasing trade to tackling climate change where the two countries can work productively and constructively together.