EDINBURGH, January 6 (Sputnik), Mark Hirst – The political drift toward right-wing political parties, like the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), is leading to a general rise in racist attitudes, Vice Chairman of the British Chinese Project (BCP) Michael Wilkes has told Sputnik.
"I would say that the type of politics UKIP espouse, whether they intend it or not, probably does propagate xenophobic and racist attitudes," Wilkes, whose organization promotes greater equality and inclusion for Chinese people in Britain, told Sputnik.
Earlier Wilkes told the BBC that racism against Chinese people was "being ignored".
Wilkes told Sputnik it was difficult to accurately assess how big a problem of racism toward Chinese people had become but claimed the perception was that racism toward this UK ethnic minority was on the rise.
"It is almost impossible to quantify, for the following reasons. Firstly, as our own research has shown, there is a huge issue of under-reporting of crime within the UK Chinese community. Therefore, getting any accurate figures is almost impossible," Wilkes said.
"Secondly, even if you do consult the figures on hate crime and racist attacks the 'Chinese' are categorized under 'other', making it extremely difficult to get a grasp on who suffered which crime," Wilkes added.
The UK Home Office told Sputnik there were no official figures held by the UK government on racist attacks, verbal or physical, directed toward Chinese people in Britain but Home Office spokesperson Ben Stack told Sputnik, "This government is determined to tackle hate crime wherever it occurs — everyone in this country should be able to live their lives free from racial hatred and harassment. No one should live in fear because of who they are."
He added that a wide range of departments and agencies worked jointly on preventing hate crimes, increasing reporting and improving the response measures to hate crimes.
