Next week is ‘Westminster Games Week’, which according to the website, “will bring the games industry directly to the doorstep of key MPs, officials, and other parliamentarians across a series of interactive events.” It will also bring one of its leading sponsors, Tencent, directly into the corridors of Westminster. A Chinese tech conglomerate with a long history of ties to the Beijing government…

Back in October, 117 MPs across the House – including Labour’s Lisa Nandy, Chris Bryant, Dawn Butler and Jess Philips – signed a petition calling for Parliament’s pension pot to disinvest from Chinese companies accused of “being complicit in human rights violations“. Here’s what that letter had to say about Tencent:

“…Tencent regularly collaborate with the Chinese state in maintaining internet censorship through the “Great Firewall” and have provided the Government with surveillance patents for software which has been put to use against the Uyghurs.”

Despite this, and the Christine Lee spy scandal rocking SW1 only two months ago, Tencent are proudly advertised as a ‘showcasing sponsor’ for several events in Parliament next week. If parliamentarians are free next Wednesday, they can drop by the ‘interactive showcase‘ in PCH at 1.30pm. If that doesn’t work, Labour MP Christian Wakeford is hosting an event on Tencent’s behalf in the Terrace Dining Room:

Five months on from the petition, and Tencent are ‘directly [on] the doorstep’ of the same MPs who accused them of collaborating with the Chinese government. Although in Wakeford’s defence, he never actually signed the petition…