THE Commons Speaker has barred the official Chinese delegation from the Queen’s lying in state because of Beijing’s sanctioning parliamentarians who criticised it.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle has refused to let the party attend Westminster Hall while seven MPs and peers are punished for criticising China’s abuse of Uighur muslims.
Two sanctioned Tory MPs, former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Tim Loughton, yesterday said it was “extraordinary” that China had been invited to Monday’s funeral.
In a letter to Sir Lindsay and Lord Speaker Lord McFall, they said the architects of the “genoicide” against the Uighur people should not be treated more favourably than countries which had been excluded, such as Russia, Belarus and Myanmar.
Sir Lindsay’s decision, which maintains an existing block on Chinese government officials on the parliamentary estate, was first reported by the Politico website.
A House of Commons spokesman said “we do not comment on security matters” while Sir Lindsay’s spokesman also declined to comment.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met the Queen on a state visit in 2015, is not scheduled to attend the funeral at Westminster Abbey, instead sending his deputy, Wang Qishan.
Last September, Sir Lindsay and his counterpart in the upper chamber, Lord McFall, blocked Chinese ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang from visiting Parliament.
The Commons Speaker argued at the time it would not be “appropriate” for the ambassador to meet at the Commons while seven British parliamentarians remain sanctioned.
Six months earlier, China imposed sanctions on seven parliamentarians, also including Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat, Nusrat Ghani and Neil O’Brien.
They are all vocal critics of Beijing’s the treatment of the Uighur people in Xinjiang, where the UN has reported "serious” human rights violations.
China hit the parliamentarians with sanctions shortly after Britain - along with the US, Canada and European Union - placed sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in the country’s autonomous north-west territory.
The UK Government is increasingly willing to take a harder line against China and, as foreign secretary, Liz Truss was seen as a key voice pushing for a tougher stance.
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