The Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell renewed calls for the abolition of the death penalty in China following the execution of Lobsang Thondup and the sentencing to death of Tezin Delek Rinpoche. The British minister said, “I was dismayed to learn that Lobsang Thondup was executed on January 26. The UK strongly supported the two EU demarches made by the EU Presidency on this case. We are urgently consulting our EU partners about further representation to the Chinese.”