Chinese envoy carpeted over Manchester violence

The violence in Manchester came shortly after Xi Jinping praised communist party members for showing ‘fighting spirit’.

Zheng Xiyuan, left, oversees the roughing up of ‘Bob’ outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester this week. Picture: AFP

A bipartisan chorus in Westminster has called for the British ­government to expel the street-fighting Chinese diplomats who bloodied a protester at China’s Manchester consulate.

The assault – the most shocking display of violence on British soil by Chinese diplomats since the Cultural Revolution – was overseen by China’s Manchester consul-general, Zheng Xiyuan.

It took place shortly after China’s President Xi Jinping praised Communist Party members for showing “fighting spirit” during a major political meeting in Beijing, which will confirm his controversial third five-year term in power.

“Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade, and exert maximum pressure on China, we have put our national interests first,” Mr Xi told comrades at the opening of the 20th Party Congress.

“We have shown a fighting spirit and a firm determination to never yield to coercive power.”

The violent demonstration of party loyalty in Manchester on Sunday hospitalised a pro-Hong Kong protester and triggered outrage across the British political spectrum.

It comes as liberal democracies around the world debate how best to deal with Mr Xi’s assertive China and his corps of combustible “Wolf warrior” diplomats.

Foreign Office Minister Jesse Norman told the House of Commons that the Truss government “actively condemns the apparent scenes of violence that we saw at the consulate”.

The British Foreign Office summoned China’s deputy head of post in London to demand an explanation for the belligerent actions of the Chinese diplomatic staff. China’s ambassador Zheng Zeguang, who was instructed to improve the worsening relations with the UK when he took up his post last year, is out of the country.

In a statement, Greater Manchester police said a “small group of men” had come out of the Chinese consulate and dragged one of the protesters back into the grounds and assaulted him.

“Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim from the consulate grounds,” police added.

An investigation is under way as the Greater Manchester force liaise with “national policing and diplomatic partners” on a case which has further stressed the ­already frayed China-UK relationship.

The victim, known only as Bob, suffered several injuries and stayed in a hospital overnight. He was in a group of about 40 protesters who had been gathered outside the consulate.

Some had banners calling for Hong Kong independence and democratic rights. Others had a poster ridiculing Mr Xi.

A spokesman for the consulate told the BBC the protesters had “hung an insulting portrait of the Chinese President at the main entrance”, which was “intolerable and unacceptable”.

The response by the Manchester consulate staff was the most openly violent behaviour by Chinese diplomats on British soil since an officer waved an axe outside China’s London embassy in the 1960s during the frenzy of the Cultural Revolution.

Alicia Kearns, the chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said the behaviour by the consul and his colleagues was unacceptable.

“We cannot allow the (Chinese Communist Party) to import their beating of protesters, their silencing of free speech … This is a chilling escalation,” the Conservative party MP said.

Catherine West, Labour’s spokeswoman for Asia and the Pacific, urged the government to expel Chinese consular officials involved in the incident.

Downing Street said the incident was “extremely concerning”, but indicated no response would be made until the conclusion of the police investigation.

Asked about the behaviour of his colleagues in Manchester, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin blamed “troublemakers illegally entering the consulate”. “Any country’s diplomatic service has the right to take necessary measures to protect the mission’s peace and dignity,” Mr Wang said on Tuesday.

His comments were not reported in China and did not appear in the Foreign Ministry’s official transcript of the press conference, which Beijing heavily edits.