Barbados’ calls for the UK to pay billions in compensation for its role in the slave trade were last night branded “completely ironic” over the country’s links to China.
A group of Caribbean governments have agreed to put slavery reparations on the table at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa next week.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is leading the West Indies nations’ demands and met King Charles earlier this month ahead of the 56-nation meeting.
He has said reparations for slavery and colonialism should be part of a new “global reset.”
Estimates of the likely reparations bill for British involvement in slavery in 14 countries range from £206 billion to £19 trillion.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (right) shakes hands with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, in June 2023.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly last month. She is leading demands by West Indian nations for the UK to pay billions in compensation for its role in the slave trade.
But last night Mrs Mottley came under fire for her country’s links with China, where the UN has reported on forced labor by members of minority groups.
Conservative great and China hawk Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Mail: “It is absolutely ironic that countries that kowtow to China and accept Belt and Road money turn a blind eye to the fact that China is now probably the largest user of slavery in its production lines and products.
‘It is a country that is committing genocide in Xinjiang among the Uyghurs, and persecutes Christians and practices forced organ harvesting from organizations like Falun Gong and Christians.
“So how ironic that people are asking us to pay them, when they are busy kneeling before China in hopes of receiving more money from an atrocious and abusive nation that has one of the worst records in history on abuse and politics !” execution.’
Barbados and China have close trade ties and the island is part of Beijing’s “Belt and Road initiative,” a global infrastructure program.
The Mail on Sunday, which first reported that slavery reparations would be on the table at the Commonwealth meeting, also said Mottley has described his country as “the home of modern racism” thanks to British rule since 1625.
Conservative grandee and China hawk Sir Iain Duncan Smith said Barbados’ calls for the UK to pay billions in compensation for its role in the slave trade were “absolutely ironic”.
He has said that Barbados is owed $4.9 billion by former slave-owning nations.
Sir Iain dismissed calls for reparations and said the UK “spent billions to end the slave trade”.
He added: “We have paid much more than the asking price for anything to do with what happened because we were the ones who paid a lot to stop it.”
Mottley praised earlier comments from King Charles, who said acknowledging past mistakes was a “conversation whose time has come”.
A Commonwealth Secretariat spokesperson told The Mail on Sunday: “Commonwealth heads have always discussed challenges and aspirations constructively.”
