It’s my duty: Chinese wolf warrior justifies violent tactics in Manchester

Chinese consul-general Zheng Xiyuan has admitting to pulling the hair of a protester who was hospitalised.

Bob Chan with Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith. Picture: Getty Images

A senior Chinese diplomat has defended as “my duty” his involvement in roughing up a pro-Hong Kong protester on the grounds of China’s Manchester consulate.

In an extraordinary interview, China’s Manchester consul-general, Zheng Xiyuan, first said he hadn’t attacked anyone — “I am the peaceful one” — before admitting to pulling the hair of a protester who was hospitalised after he was beaten by Chinese diplomats.

“The man abused my country, my leader. I think it’s my duty,” said Mr Zheng.

“To pull his hair?” replied the incredulous Sky News reporter.

“Yeah! Any diplomat, if faced with such kind of behaviour, we should maintain dignity of country,” Mr Zheng said. “We tried to control the situation.”

China’s street-fighting Manchester diplomats have provoked international outrage during a period of extreme political sensitivity in Beijing, as a week-long communist party congress is held to extend Xi Jinping’s rule for another five years.

The consul-general’s interview in Manchester was given as Ma Zhaoxu — Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs — outlined “Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy” on the sidelines of the national congress.

“General Secretary Xi Jinping is a Marxist statesman and strategic thinker with outstanding political wisdom, excellent theoretical foresight and a profound global vision,” said Mr Ma, a former ambassador to Australia.

Mr Ma — who has been tipped to next year be promoted to Foreign Minister — praised the assertive behaviour of his diplomatic colleagues.

“We have defeated a series of attacks by anti-China forces to malign China. We have protected China’s dignity,” he said.

Videos of scenes of protester Bob Chan being dragged into the consulate and then beaten by diplomats have provoked condemnation and calls for their expulsion across Britain’s political spectrum. Manchester police are conducting an investigation.

The episode has demonstrated the perverse behaviour by China’s foreign representatives — dubbed “wolf warriors” — as they struggle to follow Mr Xi’s orders.

“A lot of this behaviour comes from insecurity,” Peter Martin told The Australian last year, shortly after a Chinese diplomat gave a Taiwanese counterpart concussion. “Individual diplomats find themselves in this very strange position where their country is stronger than it has ever been, but their place in the political system is as tenuous as it has been in ­decades,” said the author of China’s Civilian Army.

On the highly censored Chinese internet, many nationalistic social media users have applauded the Manchester diplomats for dealing with the Hong Kong “cockroaches”. Others denounced their diplomats for not delivering firmer blows.

“The staff of the Manchester consulate need to strengthen physical training urgently. So many people hit one person and only slightly bruised the skin,” one wrote on Weibo.

Other Chinese internet commentators wondered what all the fuss was about. “The area within the consulate belongs to China’s territory. What is the problem with the consulate’s personnel fighting against aggression?”