This Wednesday, the Chinese ambassador to London, Zheng Zeguang, was supposed to speak to and with members of the “China Group” in the terrace pavilion of the Westminster Palace.
But Parliament President Lindsay Hoyle invited the diplomat out shortly before his appearance.
He justified this with the sanctions that Beijing had imposed on the British critical of China in the spring, including those of parliamentarians.
The Chinese embassy in London responded with an angry statement and urged parliament to undermine efforts to improve relations between the two countries.
It would have "disregarded the fundamental interests of the Chinese and British people and ignored international protocol".
Jochen Buchsteiner
Political correspondent in London.
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In the British Parliament, it is a tradition that members who have organized themselves into so-called friendship groups invite the ambassadors of the respective country to the Westminster Palace at regular intervals. According to the Times, this is the first such unloading. Hoyle justified the move with the words: "I do not think it appropriate for the Chinese ambassador to hold a meeting on the grounds of the House of Commons and at our workplace if his country has imposed sanctions on some of our members." of course ”, the sanctions should be lifted again.
In March, Beijing imposed sanctions, including entry bans, on five MPs, including Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat and former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith. Two members of the House of Lords are also affected. In particular, they criticized the human rights situation in Xinjiang and tried to impose restrictions on trade with China by means of a "genocide amendment motion". At the time, the Chinese government accused them of “lies and disinformation”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Minister Dominic Raab then declared their “complete solidarity” with those affected, who also included a lawyer and a scientist. The measures from Beijing were preceded by British sanctions against Chinese civil servants,involved in human rights abuses in Xinjiang Province.
According to information from the Daily Telegraph, members of the friendship group had issued the invitation in the summer without consulting the two "speakers". The discharge now apparently goes back to a letter of protest that the sanctioned parliamentarians had sent to the "speakers" of both houses. These then announced that the meeting of the friendship group with the ambassador should be held "at another location".
The Chinese Embassy condemned the posting on its website as a "myopic, reckless and cowardly move" that "reflects the narrow-minded and provincial attitudes of some people in the UK". The measures imposed in March against "a handful of anti-Chinese parliamentarians" were "fully justified and reasonable" because the British had spread "defamatory rumors and disinformation about Xinjiang". The embassy counts Xinjiang as one of the Chinese "core interests", which it will continue to defend resolutely. Even “tricks of the British parliament” would not shake the Chinese position.
Tory MP Richard Graham, who heads the parliamentary friendship group, defended the invitation to Zeguang as "not inappropriate" on Tuesday. He is of the opinion "that - whatever the circumstances and the situation - it is always better to get involved than not to get involved". For Zeguang, who studied law in Cardiff, Welsh, it would have been the first appearance in the Westminster Palace. The highly decorated diplomat, who was previously “Deputy Foreign Minister” in Beijing, did not take up his post in London until January.