New UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has been questioned by the Labour Party over his links to the Colombo Port City.Speaking at the House of Commons, Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh said that since the Foreign Secretary was last in office, he has been working for a Chinese state enterprise that was sanctioned by the US Government and blacklisted for bribery by the World Bank.
“The Foreign Secretary was paid by the Chinese company to promote the building of a port in Sri Lanka, a country which has itself been accused of war crimes and where, since the end of the civil war in 2009, tens of thousands of disappeared people have still not been found. Does the Minister agree that the British people have the right to know when their Foreign Secretary has been employed by the Chinese Government?” she asked in the House of Commons.
Labour MP Pat McFadden also spoke on the matter and noted that the Foreign Secretary received fulsome praise from the China Harbour Engineering Company for his role in promoting the Port City Colombo project in Sri Lanka.
“Can the Minister tell the House who the ultimate client was when the Foreign Secretary received payment from KPMG Sri Lanka for his role in promoting that project? Was it the Sri Lankan Government or the China Harbour Engineering Company, which is owned by the Chinese state?” he asked.
Conservative MP and Minister for the Cabinet Office, John Glen responded saying the UK Government’s position on China remains unchanged.
He added that the UK believes in engaging directly and robustly in the UK national interest. (Colombo Gazette)
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