Such leftism is, of course, not limited to Hong Kong. The latest case found outside mainland China took place on Oct. 16 in front of the Chinese consulate in Manchester, UK. As Hong Kong expats protested peacefully outside the consulate, members of the consular staff rushed out, confiscated a caricature of Xi Jinping by force, dragged a protester onto the consulate grounds, and then beat him up. Police on site managed to drag him out of the consulate gate and onto the public sidewalk.
After the incident, a consulate spokesperson described the protesters as “a small bunch of Hong Kong independence advocates” and said that the display of images insulting Xi “would be intolerable and unacceptable for any diplomatic and consular missions of any country.” However, none of that justifies the physical attack. The 1963 Vienna Convention stipulates the inviolability of consular premises and some immunity of consulate staff, who are, however, still liable for personal conduct that violates the laws of the host country. Interfering with a peaceful protest and committing violence against protesters in a host country is not part of legitimate “consular service.”
The BBC reported that at least eight embassy staff members were involved in the incident. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) keeps saying that it will not interfere in the affairs of other countries, but it didn’t refrain from using violence toward a small protest on foreign soil. Actions speak louder than words.
One astounding detail is that those who interfered with the protest, and captured on camera, were not ordinary people but core members of the consulate, reportedly: Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan, Deputy Consul-General Fan Yingjie, consul Gao Lianjia, and counsellor Chen Wei. Such wolf warriors carrying out blatant aggression on foreign soil naturally caused an outcry. Hong Kong people are reminded of Sun Yat-sen being kidnapped in London in the nineteenth century. People outside Hong Kong will now find it easier to believe that, given the regime’s blatant violence on foreign soil, the Chinese have exerted more brutal violence in Hong Kong, their own territory, by hiring Putonghua-speaking police to suppress protestors, and causing an unprecedented number of floating bodies and young “suicide victims” falling from buildings during the 2019 anti-extradition protests, and the fall of civil society under the National Security Law.
The top priority of Chinese officials sent abroad is supposed to be promoting communication and understanding; but they always tend to be politically oriented. The most classic case is the Cultural Revolution, during which Beijing explicitly stated that ultra-leftism was only to be practiced in the mainland, not in Hong Kong or Macau, which were British and Portuguese colonies respectively at that time. However, Macau witnessed the 1966 Riot, which almost toppled the Portuguese colonial government; the Hong Kong Xinhua News Agency, after sending a delegation to learn Macau’s “advanced experience,” followed suit, and the unaccomplished 1967 riots resulted in widespread antipathy towards China among Hong Kong residents.
Ultra-leftism has evolved into wolf warrior diplomacy in the Xi era. Chinese embassies interfere in the affairs of the host countries, such as infringing on the academic freedom of universities; demanding the cancellation of the exhibition in Italy of Badiucao, a Chinese political cartoonist; and asking U.S. enterprises to lobby Congress to drop the anti-China bill. The Chinese communists have made it clear that diplomats must take a strong stance and “dare to struggle” when facing challenges.
Will Britain’s Tories make use of this incident to deal a severe blow to China in order to regain some popularity? Despite the communist’s intention to warn the Hong Kong populace not to pursue the path of Hong Kong independence, is it too great a price to pay if this leads to a new impasse in Sino-British relations?
What constitutes an “insult” to a leader deserves more thought. If it is from a government official, condemnation may be justified; but when from the public, the words are an exercise in the right to free speech. Recently, an image was circulating on the web showing a box of minced beef with Liz Truss’s name and image on it, captioned “0% brains.” This kind of insult is commonplace in the West, but incomprehensible to communists under a one-party dictatorship.
