Chinese face 'diplomatic consequences' for 'chilling' protester attack

2022-10-20

Chinese face ‘diplomatic consequences’ if they insist on immunity for any officials charged with assaulting Hong Kong protester at Manchester consulate, minister warns

Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman issues a fresh warning to the Chinese
It follows ‘chilling’ footage showing consulate officials beating a protester
Scuffles after 30 to 40 pro-democracy protesters gathered in Manchester
One protester rescued by police after being dragged into consulate grounds

Britain has warned that ‘diplomatic consequences will follow’ if China does not waive immunity for any officials charged with assaulting a protester at the Chinese consulate in Manchester.

Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Bob Chan had to be rescued by police after being dragged into the grounds of the consulate and beaten.

The incident was branded as a ‘chilling escalation’ of violence by members of the Chinese Communist Party.

Now, in a fresh political attack, Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman told MPs: ‘We have made it absolutely clear to the Chinese embassy that the apparent behaviour of consulate general officials during the incident, as it appears from footage, which even now more is coming out, is completely unacceptable.

Scuffles broke out outside the building after 30 to 40 pro-democracy protesters gathered and put up posters

Hong Kong pro-democracy protester Bob Chan was rescued by police after being dragged into the Chinese consulate in Manchester. He poses with a picture on his phone showing injuries following the assault

‘The independent police investigation is now under way. Greater Manchester Police have been clear there are many strands to what is a complex and sensitive inquiry and it may take some time.

‘As the Foreign Secretary (James Cleverly) has said, we will await the details of the investigation, but in the meantime I’ve instructed our ambassador to deliver a clear message directly to the ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing about the depth of concern at the apparent actions of consulate general staff.

‘Let me be clear: if the police determine there are grounds to charge any officials, we would expect the Chinese consulate to waive immunity for those officials. If they do not, then diplomatic consequences will follow.’

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith used an urgent question in the House of Commons to ask about the role of the Chinese consul general, Zheng Xiyuan, who it ‘appears now took part in the assault of Bob Chan’.

Sir Iain told the Commons: ‘It now appears that the consul general played a part in that physical assault.’

He added: ‘I say to (Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman) that now, overnight, we discover that the consul general himself admitted that, not only did he take part in this attack, but that he was responsible, in his own words, for pulling his hair and tearing his scalp.

‘This is the consul general, let alone the others that were there.’

Sir Iain the UK Government to be ‘much, much clearer than just using diplomatic language’.

Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman said the UK Government is ‘extremely concerned at the apparent scenes of violence’ on Sunday and had told the Chinese embassy of the need to allow people to protest peacefully.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the UK Government to be ‘much, much clearer than just using diplomatic language’. He is pictured right, with Bob Chan on Wednesday

‘I urge the Government to make it clear in the light of this new evidence that it’s not just unacceptable that any consulate individual should have taken part in anything like this, but that any consulate individual who is proved to have been one of the perpetrators of this outrageous and violent attack on Mr Chan will be made persona non grata immediately and sent back to China,’ he said.

‘The Government has the diplomatic power to dismiss them, whether or not there are criminal proceedings. The fact is we do not want them here in the UK and they must go.’

It is a ‘political decision’ to expel, not a ‘policing decision’, the Conservative chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said.

Alicia Kearns told MPs: ‘It is quite clear that the House is unhappy with the course the Government has taken, and I’m afraid I must challenge my right honourable friend on the comments he has made this morning. It is not apparent involvement: there are no ifs, there are no buts.’

Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Commons: ‘We cannot allow the CCP to import their beating of protesters, their silencing of free speech and their failure to allow time and time again protests on British soil. This is a chilling escalation.’

She added: ‘It is a political decision to expel not a policing decision. So can he please confirm as he suggested from despatch just now that his preference is to prosecute these individuals and see them in British prisons?

‘And secondly, what are the diplomatic consequences that he references? Is it to expel? We need plain speaking at this time.’

Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman replied: ‘She has made clear her view that a crime was committed here, and I think that is the view that many others have taken, but it is not in fact, I think a determination of facts at the level that we would need.’

On Tuesday Mr Norman admitted the Government was ‘extremely concerned at the apparent scenes of violence’ on Sunday.

The drama flared up on Sunday during a peaceful protest outside the consulate building.

Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters had reportedly organised a peaceful protest outside of the Consulate in response to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, where President Xi Jinping is widely expected to announce another five years in power.

But scuffles broke out outside the diplomatic HQ after 30 to 40 pro-democracy started to put up posters.

China’s foreign ministry has provoked uproar over the events by saying its diplomatic missions abroad have the right to ‘take necessary measures’ to maintain security, and rejected the protester’s claims of ill treatment.

Video footage showed Mr Chan being dragged inside the gates of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Rusholme.

He is forced to the ground and assaulted by at least five men while a police officer tries to pull the attackers off him.

Speaking at the time, Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the video was ‘deeply worrying’ and called on then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman to ‘look into this urgently’.

‘The Government must demand a full apology from the Chinese ambassador… and demand those responsible are sent home to China,’ he said.

He told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I guess that like everything else the police are endlessly conflicted and are probably worried about a diplomatic incident. But this is on British soil, for God’s sake.’

The UK officers appeared reluctant to step into the Chinese consulate itself while attempting to drag the protestor away.

Unlike embassies, consulates remain under the jurisdiction of the host country, but are often afforded special privileges such as immunity from certain laws.

Labour MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Catherine West, who also serves as shadow minister for Asia and the Pacific, said she would raise the issue in parliament ‘urgently’ and called on both the Home and Foreign Secretaries to investigate.

MP Andrew Gwynne and local Rusholme Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar echoed the message of their colleagues.

‘This would be unacceptable on the streets of Hong Kong and against the provisions of the Joint Declaration to uphold democratic rights and freedoms. BUT this is Manchester,’ Gwynne told the Manchester Evening News.

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