The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Select Committee has an ongoing inquiry into east Asia's economic boom and China's growing influence in the region.

Among the factors considered was Taiwan's bid to free itself of unelected Chinese governance and the uneasy situation in Tibet, where China dictates policy.

'There are issues about human rights in Tibet that we needed to explore,' said Mr Younger-Ross.

'We found a great deal of poverty and begging on the streets, which is something we didn't see elsewhere in China. We had a child come up to us who asked if he could sing for money. He was singing about the fact that he doesn't have a mother and has nowhere to live. It was very poignant.'

Mr Younger-Ross said the committee had been given no answers as to why China maintained what he described as a 'massive' military presence in Tibet. 'The question you have to ask yourself is, is it there to suppress the local population and make sure they behave themselves?' he said.

'The Chinese claim it is an autonomous region, but it's a funny sort of autonomy when you are told people are arrested for opposing the regime because that is central committee policy and the central committee is right on this issue.' Mr Younger-Ross said China's ever-closer trade links with the West should be used as a lever for change.

'We have to able to work out how we can influence the situation. Can we improve democracy? Can we ensure they trade fairly? And can we improve human rights?

'Can we use our trade for peace? There is a potential conflict between Taiwan and China which won't recognise Taiwan's claim for independence.

'The Americans even recently denied Taiwanese president, Chen Shui-Bian, permission to land his plane there en route to South America as that might have given the impression America had recognised his status. 'That would have upset the Chinese, which is something they don't want to do.'

Mr Younger-Ross said 80 per cent of all counterfeit goods on sale in Europe came from China, a problem he hoped dialogue could alleviate. 'Talking to China is probably the wisest course of action,' he said. 'They're big enough and ugly enough to simply pull up the shutters and say, no thanks, we don't want anything to do with you.'

China is also actively engaging with African communities and Mr Younger-Ross and his committee are concerned about the effect that might have on emerging democracies in the region. He denied the concern was prompted by a desire to protect western business interests, but said: 'If that can be done as part of a package that also promotes good governance then all well and good.'

One of the greatest concerns the committee has is the environmental damage that is following in the wake of China's boom. 'In Beijing and other cities, the air is yellow with pollution,' he said. 'The day we were in Hong Kong the air was clear only because there was an offshore breeze.

'The danger in Tibet is that they will mess up the heads of China's five main rivers and if they get that wrong the environmental catastrophe will be vast.' The committee's findings will be passed on to the Foreign Office and used to help develop future policy. Mr Younger-Ross said the 12-day trip had proved challenging, with wall-to-wall meetings and not a day off.

He did, however, manage to sneak an hour to himself when in Hong Kong, which he described as 'New York with lots of green spaces and on hills'. But even then he had an agenda to follow, albeit one set this time by his wife. 'I was under strict instructions that if I didn't come back with some silk I was dead,' he chuckled.