WRITTEN EVIDENCE SUBMITTED BY DR ENVER BUDGHA

(TRUK0014)

Experience the dark side of China's rise.

China's rise as a world power has brought great benefits to many people, but for some ethnic groups, especially those in Xinjiang, this power has translated into hardship and suffering. And for me, it's been a nightmare.

I was forced to flee because I did medical research at the wrong time in the wrong country, and that was to expose the catastrophe that the Chinese Communist Party's nuclear weapons tests had brought to our people.

This eventually resulted in a documentary called “Death on the Silk Road,” broadcast on Channel 4 in 1998 and is still available online. My conclusion was shocking, China's nuclear weapons programme was built at the cost of countless human lives – perhaps as many as 50 million.

This discovery forced me into exile. The Chinese Communist Party saw my findings as a threat. I sought political asylum in the UK, where I began a new chapter as a human rights campaigner. Despite being far away from China, the influence of the Chinese Communist Party was ever-present.

In more than 20 years of human rights and democracy activism, I have encountered countless challenges:

In 2003, an internationally renowned human rights organisation made a deal with the Chinese Communist Party to ignore the Uyghur issue.

In 2016, after exposing the horrifying, state-sponsored and ongoing practice of live organ harvesting, my car mysteriously lost control while taking my children to spend Christmas vacation. I think this seems to be an attempt on my life.

In China, if you say something on the internet, you will be caught within 20 minutes. But if someone disappears, they cannot be found, and even if they are found, their organs are missing.

Two NGOs I founded in 2017, the Uyghur Christian Association and the Silk Road Dialogue, had their bank accounts closed four years later without any meaningful explanation.

In 1995, the TFL refused to renew my license because I had removed organs from a half-dead prisoner, after someone complained that my actions may impose risk to the public.

My Wikipedia pages were deleted twice, and these pages were created by university students;

My Twitter was marked as false.

My YouTube videos have been restricted.

None of the above incidents were handled by the Chinese government itself, but were the result of cooperation between the relevant local government departments and the Chinese Communist Party. Hopefully, this cooperation was involuntary.

Western institutions or individuals influenced by Chinese financial power facilitated it. The Chinese Communist Party’s money is incredibly effective not only in suppressing dissent but also in advancing its political agenda.


How does the CCP operate?

The CCP uses the international system: it uses the diplomatic, economic or legal systems of host countries to achieve its repressive aims.

The British government has adopted a multi-pronged approach to tackling transnational repression, but it is not without its challenges:

The UK government recognises human rights abuses in China, particularly against the Uighur minority. While direct action against transnational repression remains less visible, the UK has sanctioned Chinese officials.  Agencies such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Home Office and MI5 have a role to play, but specific policies against transnational repression are underdeveloped.

Effectiveness and co-ordination: co-ordination between departments appears to be sporadic. The complexity of transnational issues requires inter-agency cooperation, but a coherent strategy is perceived to be lacking. My case shows the indirect impact of speaking out and the potential for inconsistent government responses, as my comments resulted in Transport for London reviewing his taxi licence.

The UK legal system is not designed to combat transnational oppression, and it is challenging to prosecute such cases in the absence of clear precedents or legislation. Identifying and combating foreign espionage or harassment requires complex intelligence operations that must balance security with civil liberties. The UK and China are important economic partners, and the relationship between the two countries needs to strike a delicate balance in dealing with transnational repression. Criticising or opposing China on human rights issues could lead to a deterioration of diplomatic relations, affecting trade, investment and international cooperation. The UK must consider the wider geopolitical strategy in its response, and sometimes human rights will take second place to economic or security interests.

my experience is a powerful call for a robust and clear policy on transnational repression. It highlights the need for the UK to adopt a formal definition, establish clear legal avenues for victims, improve interdepartmental coordination and incorporate human rights more explicitly into its foreign policy considerations. His experience as a Chinese surgeon turned exile activist vividly illustrates the price of silence and the need to take action against such transnational abuses.

The British government's approval of the construction of the Chinese Communist Party's super-ambassadorial building in the UK is proof that the British government has bowed to the evil Chinese Communist regime.

(Feb 2025)