Uyghur genocide raises questions over Calderdale Council's closer links with China

Source: Uyghur Human Rights Project

In recent years Calderdale Council has been developing closer economic links with the Yingtan province in China. 

But images of the genocide being committed against the Uyghur people should cause us to pause and question this relationship.

Cllr James Baker leader of Calderdale Liberal Democrats said "In Britain we value human rights. We must speak up against the genocide being committed by the Chinese Government against the Uyghur people." 

"Images of people lined up like cattle waiting to be packed onto trains makes me feel sick in the stomach."

"Calderdale Council has been fostering closer economic and social ties with China. As part of that relationship we have a moral duty to raise our concerns over the treatment of the Uyghur people."

"We can't just turn a blind eye as to what is happening because it's in our economic interests."

"I am calling on the Leader of the Council to write to our counterparts in the Yingtan expressing our concerns over the genocide that is occurring in the Xinjiang." 

This intervention follows the Chinese Ambassador to the UK denying on The Andrew Marr Show that the Uyghur people are being transported across China for forced labour in factories.