My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not raised the embargo on Chinese products made from forced labour with overseas counterparts. However, we strongly condemn all forms of forced labour and regularly raise China’s reform through labour practices, including re-education through labour, with the Chinese Government at each round of the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue, the last round of which was held in Beijing in July 2006.
The Government are aware that the US carried out a démarche on the Chinese authorities to request further information on the incident at Nangpa La Pass shortly after it was reported. We requested information bilaterally from the Chinese Government on 12 October. We strongly supported action by the EU, which raised the incident with the Chinese Government at the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue in Beijing on 19 October 2006, and carried out a follow-up démarche on 19 December.