Beijing Recalls Diplomats Wanted for Questioning by UK Police Over Consulate Assault

Hongkongers holding a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, UK, were dragged into the consulate and beaten by the staff, on Oct. 16, 2022. (Screenshot via Hong Kong Indigenous Defense Force)

UK police earlier this month sought to interview six Chinese diplomats over an assault on a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester in Manchester, only to find the officials had either left the country or were about to do so, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Dec. 14.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns said the protester who was “grievously assaulted” has been denied justice by the diplomats’ escape, and called on the government to declare them persona non grata.

On Oct. 16, a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester descended into a short scuffle after Consul General Zheng Xiyuan and a group of masked men appeared from the consulate to snatch a banner that depicted a caricature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping as an emperor wearing no clothes.

Bob Chan, a pro-democracy Hong Kong protester, who was holding the banner, was dragged onto the consulate grounds and beaten, before a Greater Manchester Police (GMP) officer intervened.

Chan suffered several minor injuries, while the officer had a minor injury to his hand, according to GMP.

Zheng later conceded that he pulled Chan’s hair; he also was filmed kicking and knocking over two other banners.

GMP launched an investigation on Oct. 17, with British government ministers saying the diplomats responsible would be prosecuted or face “diplomatic consequences” if the police found that they have committed crimes.

On Nov. 21, GMP said investigators from its Major Incident Team had identified “a number of offences including assaults and public order offences” and that the investigation was continuing.

Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly leaves 10 Downing Street in London on Sept. 7, 2022. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)

Cleverly ‘Disappointed’

Updating Parliament on Dec. 14, Cleverly published a written statement saying the police earlier in December had asked for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s (FCDO) assistance to request interviews with Zheng and five of his staffers.

The FCDO gave the Chinese regime one week to waive the diplomatic immunity of the individuals to enable the interviews to take place.

“In response, the Chinese Embassy, acting on instructions from Beijing, notified His Majesty’s Government that the functions of the Consul General in Manchester have come to an end and he has returned to China,” Cleverly said.

He added that the embassy also said the other staff summoned by police had either left the UK or would shortly do so.

“The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations allows States to withdraw members of a consular post at any point, as has happened here,” Cleverly wrote.

“However, I am disappointed that these individuals will not be interviewed or face justice. Nonetheless, it is right that those responsible for the disgraceful scenes in Manchester are no longer—or will shortly cease to be—consular staff accredited to the UK.”

The foreign secretary thanked GMP for their professionalism.

Alluding to earlier calls for the diplomats to be immediately expelled, Cleverly said it was “right” to allow the police investigation to proceed so “we could respond on the basis of evidence and facts, rather than images on social media.”

He also said the government had “been clear with China from the outset” that it was “prepared to take firm action should the police determine that there was a case to charge officials for their involvement in the incident.”

Cleverly said the UK expects “a certain standard of behaviour” from all foreign diplomats and consular staff in the UK.

‘Fled the UK Like Cowards’

“The people of Britain rightly expect those who commit crimes on our shores to face the consequences,” Kearns said in a statement posted on Twitter. “That is what it means to live in a country with the rule of law.

“China’s diplomats who attacked protestors have fled the UK like cowards, making clear their guilt and denying justice to those protestors grievously assaulted.

“The Foreign Office must now declare those who have fled persona non grata, and make clear they are never again welcome in the UK.”

In an email to The Epoch Times, Alan Mendoza, co-founder and executive director of the foreign policy think tank Henry Jackson Society, said Beijing’s removal of the diplomats “reveals the effectiveness of the UK’s response to the Manchester consulate violence.”

“Although this move is two months too late, it signals that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is bowing to the West’s resolve to abide by international human rights law,” Mendoza said.

“Even if this is simply a diplomatic move by the CCP to avoid the potential consequences against its officials on the international stage, the insurmountable pressure from the Free World to take a stand for basic human dignity and freedom cannot be silenced.”

Mendoza said the UK must “proactively continue its call for freedom against the CCP and other twisted regimes across the globe to safeguard the sanctity of British soil.”

“This is only the beginning of the CCP’s necessary end.”