The Times, October 31, Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP
On Sunday October 16 young Hong Kong dissidents protested outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester. Many of those present had fled President Xi Jinping’s brutal crackdown on freedom of speech.
What made this protest different was that Chinese diplomats chose to attack the demonstrators and dragged one of them, Bob Chan, into the consulate, where they subjected him to what he described as a “punishment beating”.
Such a violent intervention by supposed diplomats should be unforgivable. What makes it worse is that the defiant consul-general, Zheng Xiyuan, not only admitted he had taken part in the violence but said that he considered it his duty to do so. At the very least, the consul and anyone else identified as part of the attack should have been declared persona non grata and kicked out of the country. Yet the government has done little except call in the chargé d’affaires for a formulaic ticking off by an official, rather than a minister.
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