London summons Chinese chargé d’affaires for explanations
Oct. 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
British parliamentarian Alicia Kearns has denounced in the House of Commons that the Chinese consul general, Zheng Xiyuan, would have been the author of the attack on a demonstrator who was protesting on Sunday in front of the Chinese consulate in Manchester.
“What we saw was the Chinese consul-general tearing up banners and a peaceful protest,” said Kearns, a member of the Conservative Party and chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
Kearns added that after Xiyuan tore up the banners, a Hong Kong protester was beaten causing “serious bodily harm”, while other protesters were “dragged into the consulate territory to receive further beatings by officials who have been identified as members of the Chinese Communist Party”.
“We cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to import its beating of protesters, its silencing of free speech and its failure to again and again allow protests on British soil. This is a chilling escalation,” Kearns said, according to pick up the BBC.
On the other hand, the British Foreign Minister, Jesse Norman, has indicated that London “will take action” once there is full knowledge of what happened, for which he has confirmed that the Chinese charge d’affaires has been summoned to the capital. British.
“We have outlined a process to formally raise this with the Chinese Embassy, and we will see where these procedures can lead, and further action will be taken at that point,” said Norman, who has, however, drawn criticism from some MPs. who recriminate him ‘soft hand’.
“If these incidents had happened on the streets of Hong Kong, there would have been outrage from the British government … however, we have this situation where the minister basically sends a memorandum to the Chinese Embassy, offers a cup of tea and chat with the ambassador,” said Labor Party’s Andrew Gwynne.
At the moment, China has not issued an official response to Xiyuan’s alleged involvement in the incident, although it is true that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has positioned itself in favor of the consulate staff and their actions.
The Chinese foreign spokesman, Wang Wenbin, assured that the protesters had “illegally entered” the consulate grounds and pointed out that the diplomacy of any other country would have also taken the “necessary measures” to protect their facilities.
A group of people gathered on Sunday in front of the Consulate to demand greater democracy in Hong Kong, coinciding with the start in Beijing of the Congress of the Communist Party of China. The situation turned violent when several people took to the streets and began to tear up the banners.
Authorities in the United Kingdom opened an investigation on Monday to clarify an attack suffered by a man who participated in a protest outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester and who was dragged inside the diplomatic complex.
