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China has lifted the sanctions it imposed on serving British MPs and peers in a significant sign of warming relations after Keir Starmer<\/a> travelled to Beijing for landmark talks with Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n Nine UK citizens were banned from China in 2021<\/a>, including five Conservative MPs and two members of the House of Lords, targeted for highlighting human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur community.<\/p>\n However, it is unclear whether two academics and the former Tory MP Tim Loughton, who stepped down from parliament at the last election, who were also sanctioned, would be affected.<\/p>\n The Guardian revealed last year<\/a> that the Chinese government was reviewing the sanctions, which it introduced in response to what it called \u201clies and disinformation\u201d about human rights abuses in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n In a round of broadcast interviews in China<\/a> on Friday, Starmer confirmed that the sanctions on serving MPs and peers would be lifted with immediate effect. He said: \u201cI know that the action taken in relation to our parliamentarians has been a real cause of concern, understandably so.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd therefore I raised that issue whilst I was here, and the Chinese are absolutely clear in response: the restrictions no longer apply. President Xi said to me that that means all parliamentarians are welcome.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that shows that if you engage, you can raise the difficult issues, the issues that my parliamentary colleagues would have expected me to raise, and therefore I can be clear, the restrictions no longer apply.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer opened the door to a UK visit<\/a> from Xi after the talks in Beijing on Thursday. However, it would have been politically challenging to do so while the sanctions remained in place. Chinese diplomats are banned from parliament after a spying row.<\/p>\n China\u2019s sanctions were a retaliation<\/a> against the UK imposing sanctions on Chinese officials<\/a> held responsible for atrocities in Xinjiang. It is understood that those will not be lifted in return.<\/p>\n The five MPs put under sanctions in 2021 were the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani, Neil O\u2019Brien and Loughton, who stood down last summer.<\/p>\n The two peers were David Alton, a crossbencher, and Helena Kennedy, from Labour. Several are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.<\/p>\n Before the move was confirmed, the seven parliamentarians issued a statement. \u201cWe would rather remain under sanction indefinitely than have our status used as a bargaining chip to justify lifting British sanctions on those officials responsible for the genocide in Xinjiang,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would reject any deal that prioritises our personal convenience over the pursuit of justice for the Uyghur people. We stand in total solidarity with our families, former colleagues, and the civil society organisations who remain targeted by the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not accept any reprieve that applies only to sitting lawmakers while others, including civil society organisations, remain sanctioned.\u201d<\/p>\n