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LONDON — High-profile firms with significant business interests in China are pouring money into a U.K. parliamentary lobbying group set up to promote closer ties between the two nations.
Data shows wealthy donors including HSBC, John Swire & Sons, Arup and the City of London Corporation have made the China APPG one of the best-funded cross-party groups in parliament.
The group was at the center of a highly controversial attempt in 2021 to invite the Chinese ambassador to parliament, which was ultimately blocked by the House of Commons and House of Lords authorities.
The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on China has declared £110,000 in donations from seven companies, including HSBC, John Swire & Sons, the City of London Corporation and China Britain Business Council, since 2019, according to a new database compiled by Sky News and Tortoise Media.
These same organizations, plus U.K. tourism body VisitBritain, donated a further £150,000 to the China APPG between 2016 and 2019, additional analysis of public records carried out by POLITICO revealed.
APPGs are little-scrutinized cross-party groups set up by backbench MPs to explore policy issues or to forge closer links with foreign nations, and are the focus of an ongoing POLITICO investigation.
The China APPG notoriously invited the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, to speak in parliament in 2021, despite Beijing having imposed sanctions on nine British MPs who had highlighted alleged human right abuses in Xinjiang.
The visit was swiftly blocked by the speakers of both houses of parliament, with Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle commenting: “I do not feel it’s appropriate for the ambassador for China to meet on the Commons estate and in our place of work when his country has imposed sanctions against some of our members.”
All the donations to the China APPG were made and declared in accordance with parliamentary rules. However, MPs and transparency campaigners have questioned the appropriateness of the gifts, given the business interests of some of those involved.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton said: “Companies invest in APPGs because they believe their interests will be served. You can be certain that if the APPG China started complaining about HSBC freezing Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui’s bank accounts, the bank would stop coughing up.” HSBC faced widespread criticism in 2021 after freezing the local banks accounts of Hui, a pro-democracy activist, under pressure from Chinese authorities.
Loughton noted that “many of the [MPs involved in] the China APPG are deeply worried about the threat Xi Jinping’s government poses to the U.K.,” and that it was imperative the APPG “should be serving the agenda of the politicians, not the other way around.”
Steve Goodrich of Transparency International U.K. said that while APPGs can sometimes help inform policymaking, “far too many just provide privileged access to parliamentarians for private companies and foreign governments,” noting that the China APPG “holds uncomfortably close ties to those with vested interests in the country.”
POLITICO contacted all the firms and bodies which have donated to the China APPG since the last general election. Most either did not respond or declined to comment, including HSBC.
However, the China-Britain Business Council said it had not in fact donated its own money, but passed on services — such as catering and venue hire — provided by other businesses in order to facilitate an annual Chinese New Year reception.
Heathrow Airport said it had been one of the sponsors of the 2020 Chinese New Year celebrations, in recognition of “Heathrow’s role as the main gateway to the U.K. for Chinese visitors and [to] highlight the airport’s role connecting British exporters to Chinese markets.” A spokesperson stressed the sponsorship was registered through the proper channels.
Richard Graham, Conservative MP and chairman of the China APPG, did not comment directly but highlighted a statement on the group’s website which says: “Our mission is to ensure parliamentarians are kept well informed on China and to act as a platform for discussions on all issues of importance to the bilateral relationship.”
The work of so-called country APPGs is in the spotlight after POLITICO reported on the extent and funding of the foreign travel they facilitate for dozens of backbench MPs, as well as allegations of sexual misconduct and drunkenness by certain politicians while on APPG trips.
APPGs are allowed to use U.K. parliamentary premises for meetings and a special portcullis logo, but are not official parliamentary bodies and are largely unregulated.
The database of parliamentary records compiled by Sky News and Tortoise Media shows some of the other best-funded country APPGs include:
- The Hong Kong APPG, which receives even more money than the China group and is funded by Whitehouse Communications, a public affairs company representing the pro-democracy campaign group Stand With Hong Kong.
- The APPG on Kurdistan in Iraq, which has received £114,000 from Gary Kent, an aide to a Labour MP, who has declared that he receives money from a Kurdish oil company. The sponsorship ended in 2021.
- The APPG on Africa, which receives donations in the form of secretarial support from the Royal Africa Society think tank.
- The APPG on the Polar Regions, which received £57,000 from the Guernsey-registered Mamont Foundation, controlled by Swedish billionaire Frederik Paulsen.
- The APPG on Italy, funded by Italian-linked lobbying firms and the U.K. division of Italian cable manufacturer Tratos.
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