LONDON: The UK’s foreign office on Tuesday summoned a top Chinese diplomat in London over footage of a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester being assaulted in the grounds of a Chinese consulate in Britain.

The summons came after Beijing earlier on Tuesday accused demonstrators of “illegally entering” the consulate in the northern British city of Manchester.

British police have said a group of men came out of the consulate during a peaceful demonstration on Sunday afternoon, dragging one of the protesters inside the grounds and assaulting him. “The Foreign Secretary has issued a summons to the Chinese charge d’affaires at the Chinese Embassy in London to express... deep concern” over the incident “and to demand an explanation for the actions of the consulate staff”, a foreign office minister, Jesse Norman, told parliament.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the protesters were to blame and that “violation of the peace and dignity of China’s overseas embassies and consulates will not be tolerated”.

“The troublemakers illegally entered the Chinese Consulate-General in Manchester, endangering the security of the premises,” Wang said at a daily press briefing.

He urged the UK to “earnestly fulfil its duties and take effective measures to step up protection of the premises and personnel of the Chinese embassy and consulates”.

The man involved in the incident, who is in his 30s, sustained injuries and spent the night in hospital, local police said.

Video footage posted on Twitter showed a grey-haired man kicking protesters’ banners and scuffling with a group of demonstrators at the gates of the consulate.

A group of men were then shown punching a protester lying on the ground inside the mission’s gates.

The newly appointed chair of the UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Alicia Kearns, accused the Chinese consul-general Zheng Xiyuan, one of China’s most senior UK diplomats, of being at the scene and “ripping down posters and peaceful protest.” China has not responded to the claims.

The BBC reported that the injured activist was from Hong Kong, which was engulfed by massive pro-democracy protests in 2019 before Beijing imposed a harsh national security law to mute dissent. “They dragged me inside. They beat me up,” he told the broadcaster.

Recruitment of British pilots

The British government said on Tuesday it was taking steps to stop China trying to recruit serving and former British military pilots to train the Chinese armed forces.

The BBC reported on Tuesday that up to 30 former military pilots had gone to train members of China’s People’s Liberation Army. “We are taking decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots to train Peoples Liberation Army personnel in the Peoples Republic of China,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a statement.

Armed forces minister James Heappey told Sky News such recruitment had been a concern within the Ministry of Defence for “a number of years” and British counter intelligence had been looking at it closely.

“China is a competitor that is threatening the UK interest in many places around the world. It’s also an important trading partner,” he said. “But there is no secret in their attempt to gain access to our secrets and the recruitment of pilots in order to understand the capabilities of our air force is clearly a concern to us.”

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2022