Chinese Consul General: Attack on Protesters in Manchester Debate
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Lord Collins of Highbury
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Chinese Consul General: Attack on Protesters in Manchester
Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
My Lords, the Answer reminds us of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which allows states to withdraw members of a consular post at any point. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said that we were asking the Chinese either to waive immunity or to do that. Their withdrawal is a clear admission of guilt. To avoid those individuals being able to repeat such attacks on peaceful demonstrators in this country, MPs including the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee asked the Government to say retrospectively that the diplomats concerned are personae non gratae.
The Minister in the other place seemed unwilling to respond directly to that question, so I hope the Minister here can give us a direct answer today. Can he also advise the House whether Ministers have directly engaged with their international counterparts to prevent similar incidents happening elsewhere?