Chinese diplomat who attacked pro-democracy protesters in UK tells students

A senior Chinese diplomat involved in the recent violence against pro-democracy protesters in Manchester has suggested Chinese students in Britain should resist distorting and discrediting China's Covid policies.

The comments by China's consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, at a symposium to discuss the work of international students were made by Lyndon Lee, 23, a second-year law student at York University, to appear threatening.

In October, Zheng was filmed pulling the hair of a protester, Bob Chan, who had been dragged into the grounds of the consulate where he was kicked and punched to such a degree that he required hospital treatment.

An official account of the student symposium last week was posted on a WeChat social media account that used to share information with York University's Chinese Students and Scholars Association CSSA reported that Zheng championed the remarkable advantages of China's socialist system.

Students are invited to fully understand and believe in the great significance of every decision made by the party and government, and to consciously resist the distorting and discrediting China's epidemic prevention and control policies, so that they can win this regular epidemic prevention and control battle, according to the account reports.

Lee said he took Zheng's comments as an attempt to chill the debate in the UK. He said it was put as a request, but that is not how things work in China. It is threatening. They should not be trying to influence the way international students act, to tell them what to do and say. There have been protests in recent days by Chinese citizens studying in the UK who wanted to show solidarity with those at home who have taken to the streets in protest of Beijing's Covid diktats.

Demonstrators had called for an end to restrictions and their calls appeared to have hit home in recent days. There has been anger directed at the authoritarian government and its leader, Xi Jinping.

Chen Wei, a counsellor at the consulate who was also at the scene when Chan was beaten, addressed the symposium to welcome the work of Chinese student societies.

The account reported that Wei pointed out that the CSSAs in the consulate have assisted the consulate general in putting in place preventive consular propaganda and consular protection, and have done a lot of work to ensure the safety of Chinese students. Lee said the comments showed that the societies were being used as tools of the Communist Party. In the year 2019 the Commons foreign affairs select committee highlighted the role of CSSAs as an instrument of political interference.

Greater Manchester police, who had been investigating the situation at the Chinese consulate, said two weeks ago that they had identified a number of offences including assaults and public order offences.

Zheng was seen ripping down posters and grabbing a protester by the hair in front of the consulate. He said at the time: I didn't beat anybody. The so-called protesters beat my people. When asked about the footage of him seemingly pulling Chan out of the hair, Zheng said : "The man abused my country, my leader I think it is my duty." I think it is an emergency situation that guy threatened my colleague's life and we tried to control the situation. I wanted to separate him from my colleagues. That was a very critical point.