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British Lawmakers Demand 'Coherent' Policy Toolkit to Counter China

Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON - The world's leading democracies should form a coalition to
   counter China's human rights abuses at home and its support for
   authoritarianism overseas, according to a prominent group of British
   lawmakers.

   Several members of parliament from Britain's ruling Conservative Party
   have formed the "China Research Group" to monitor Beijing's influence.
   They say Britain is in desperate need of a coherent policy on China and
   recently published a self-styled "policy toolkit" of recommendations.

   Tom Tugendhat, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Select
   Committee, is co-founder of the group. "What we're trying to do is to
   change China. We're not trying to cut it off," Tugendhat told VOA in a
   recent interview. "We're trying to encourage it to change within a
   rules-based international system, so that the people of China have the
   opportunity they deserve and so the rest of the world is not
   threatened."

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