George Osborne has tentatively raised concerns on China’s human rights record in the restive region of Xinjiang, as news emerged that at least 40 people had been killed or injured in a new outbreak of violence.
The chancellor’s trade mission to Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, was always politically risky but the latest violence in the region involving alleged Muslim Uighur “separatists” cast a shadow over his visit.
Mr Osborne’s visit is a first by a serving British minister and one of few by any leading western politician to the autonomous region in the far north-west of China. Asked if his visit would be used as a propaganda tool by Beijing, Mr Osborne insisted he had raised human rights issues as part of a “broader conversation with China”.