The incident of beating up Hongkongers by the Chinese consulate staff members in Manchester, England, continues to escalate. On Oct. 20, Zheng Xiyuan, the consul general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Manchester, admitted to beating people but did not admit any wrongdoing.
Zheng Xiyuan Admits to Being Involved in Beating Incident
The British government has issued a summons to the Chinese Charge d'Affaires at the Chinese Embassy in London, requesting him to explain the incident. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the protest of 30 to 40 people (in front of the Chinese consulate in Manchester) on Oct. 16 was peaceful and legal. The protesters included Hong Kong citizens now living in the UK.“I don’t attack anybody. I am just peacefully,” said Zheng.
Asked by a Sky News reporter about a photo showing him wearing a mask and pulling the hair of the victim, Bob Chan, Zheng changed his mind and argued: “I think it’s my duty (as a diplomat).”
The interviewer asked, “To pull his hair?” Zheng responded, “Yes!” He added that “any diplomat” would do the same in such a situation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly supports the “fighting spirit.”
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said that Ma Zhaoxu’s speech at the 20th National Congress of the CCP, saying that he must dare to fight, is tantamount to indirectly supporting Zheng beating protesters. At the same time, Zheng also said in an interview with British Sky News, “It is my duty.”
“Another sign is that under the atmosphere of the CCP’s massive left-turn, CCP diplomats have become more shameless. In the case of conclusive evidence such as video footage, Zheng Xiyuan has the cheek to say that it was his duty to beat people,” he said.
Li Linyi added that from another perspective, it is understandable why he did this and why he said it. As he felt that the protesters were insulting Xi Jinping, and he came forward to defend Xi by beating people, any diplomatic price was worth it because he could be promoted later.
Chinese diplomats have become more combative on the international stage as relations with the West continue to deteriorate over issues ranging from human rights to COVID-19. Analysis believes that this wolf warrior tone is aimed at domestic audiences.
A global survey released last month by the Pew Research Center found that views of the CCP in the U.S. and other advanced economies have “deteriorated dramatically” under Xi.
“What Xi Jinping seems to be sketching is a foreign policy that accepts the long-term strategic competition between China and the United States,” Neil Thomas, senior analyst at U.S. risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told Nikkei Asia.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an international organization composed of 18 countries and the European Parliament, and more than 170 members of parliament from different parties have condemnation Zheng Xiyuan’s words.
IPAC member Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP for the UK, wrote, stressing the need for strong action, which involves chucking out some of those people and it involves posting additional police outside every CCP-run establishment in the UK to make sure that no more peaceful demonstrators are attacked in this way.
IPAC member Afzal Gorton, a UK Labour MP, wrote that it was “disgusting” for the Chinese consul general to arrogantly claim that it was his duty to tear down protest banners and attack protesters.
IPAC co-chair and former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith wrote to secure an Urgent Question debate on the Communist China Consul General’s role in the attack on Manchester Hong Kong protesters. During the debate, cross-party MPs called for the revocation of the diplomatic immunity of the consul general and other relevant officials.
