Extract of a 3 minute speech by Cllr Marguerita Morton:

"Conference I am a Councillor from Tunbridge Wells and a member of the Chinese Liberal Democrats. I am British citizen of ethnic Chinese origin, living in the UK, since 1964. I came to this country as a child of 11 because my adopted parents thought coming to live in the UK would be a better future for me and for my educational development.

Chinese Liberal Democrats are pleased that there will be a motion, F31, to be debated at Autumn Conference on "Hong Kong's Future." According to the Conference Agenda, it is scheduled for debate on Monday September 28 but at the unfortunate time of 18.50. This means that anyone in Hong Kong who would like to participate would have to stay up till 2am, Hong Kong time!

Chinese Lib Dems are reproducing this update from Libdems Campaign for Race Equality and the Racial Diversity Campaign ("RDC"):

"The RDC was launched in early 2019. However, its progress was stalled due to Brexit and the snap general election.

New Party elections were held in February 2020 and a new Executive was elected to run the RDC:
Ade Adeyemo (Chair), Dipa Vaya (Vice Chair) & Josh Babarinde (Vice Chair).

The Chinese Liberal Democrats are pleased to congratulate Ed, our Patron, as the new elected leader of the Liberal Democrats. We have confidence that his experience as an MP of 21 years, five as Energy and Climate Change Minister, will help steer the party and this country out of the current crisis caused by Brexit and Covid19.

Kashmir is one of those decades-long conflicts which rarely makes it into the mainstream UK media; until recently. In June this year 20 Indian soldiers died in fighting with Chinese soldiers, on the border between Indian-administered and Chinese-administered Kashmir.

So what is the nature of the conflict and why has it become much more dangerous this year ?

The new "cold war" in the far east, in reaction to China's economic power and military build-up, is set to cause the United States to strengthen its military presence in the region. There is speculation that Britain's new aircraft carrier HMS Elizabeth is going to be permanently based in the far east. It certainly will make its maiden voyage through the South China Sea. But what of the nations in the SE Asian area?

I have been championing the teaching of black and colonial history in schools for as long as I can remember and was a member of the task force set up in 2012 under Baroness Meral Ece on Race Equality in Education and Employment. Through learning about the impact and legacy of colonialism, we can forge a modern British identity, bridge past divisions as well as better inform Britain's dealings with the rest of the world.

The rise of China is an enigma for us in the West. Over the last 40 years, China lifted 850 million [1] people out of poverty and grew to become the second largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the largest by purchasing power parity. It has done so without becoming an open liberal democracy, no universal suffrage and no competing multi-parties. Yet, in the last 10 years, the regime has enjoyed greater legitimacy [2] from its citizens than Western democracies [3].

We don't talk enough about race. Properly talk, that is.

It's become obvious, as the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has come to the fore with the murder of George Floyd in the United States, that, whilst many of us who consider ourselves liberals have a desire to be anti-racist and create a society where your skin colour does not determine your life chances, we lack the language and the understanding of how to achieve this.