Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Deputy Prime Minister) on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs: It should come as no surprise to the member that Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials have engaged with representatives of the Chinese Government regarding the grave human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. I have made it clear that we continue to raise these concerns directly with China at all levels. For example, New Zealand joined a statement alongside 38 other countries, expressing our concerns about the human rights situations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong at the United Nations in New York. Given there has been a concern for a number of years about human rights violations, it is only right that we would be engaging in urging China to allow unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent international observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I have had no direct communications with the Chinese Government regarding the term "genocide". With respect to officials, it is not possible to go through years of communications with Chinese representatives to see if the word "genocide" was mentioned. What is important, though, is to reiterate that the New Zealand Government has publicly stated its grave concerns at the growing number of credible reports of severe human rights abuses taking place in the region, and we will continue to do so.