The UK foreign secretary has said the Chinese consulate staff who attacked protesters outside their consular building in Manchester have been sent home. ‘In response to our request the Chinese government have now removed from the UK those officials, including the consul general himself. This demonstrates our adherence to the rule of law,’ James Cleverly said on Wednesday. Consular staff attacked a group of pro-democracy demonstrators in mid-October after they attempted to take down a banner taunting the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. One of the protesters emerged badly bruised after…
Tag: James Cleverly
UK to downgrade commitment to human rights for close diplomatic ties
The UK will target a group of about two dozen middle-level countries for long-term diplomatic partnerships in what marks a downgrade of a commitment to human rights as a prerequisite for close relations with the UK. The new policy being outlined in a speech by the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is an attempt to set realistic ambitions and criteria for Britain’s future relations post-Brexit. It is an implicit admission that the phrase “global Britain”, coined by Boris Johnson, may have set expectations that British diplomatic resources and status cannot match.…