China Removes Six Consular Officials From UK, Cleverly Says

(Bloomberg) -- Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said China removed six of its consular officials from the UK following a diplomatic spat over an attack on a Hong Kong man staging a peaceful protest outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester.

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In October, Cleverly summoned China’s chargé d’affaires amid allegations a Chinese diplomat had overseen the attack after footage appeared to show a man being beaten. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said at the time that “troublemakers illegally entered China’s consulate in Manchester, threatening its safety.”

In a video clip posted on Twitter on Wednesday, Cleverly said that Greater Manchester Police had requested that six Chinese officials waive their immunity so that they could be questioned.

“We set a deadline which expired today, making it clear that we expected them to take action,” Cleverly said. “In response to our request, the Chinese government have now removed from the UK those officials, including the consul general himself.”

A spokesperson for China’s embassy in the UK said the consul general in Manchester had completed his term of office and had departed Britain as part of a “normal rotation of Chinese consular officials.”

--With assistance from Jacob Gu.

(Updates with comment from Chinese embassy in final paragraph.)

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