In view of the duration of the parade of mourners, the British authorities announced this Friday the suspension of access to the queue that closes the coffin of Elizabeth II. At least this monstrous influx will not be enhanced by the arrival of a delegation of Chinese diplomats.
In fact, while a group of representatives of the Xi Jinping regime had sent a request to the British Parliament, where the royal body rests until the funeral, to enter the Palace of Westminster and participate in the vigil, their request was simply rejected. It was the president of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, who decided so, according to a parliamentary source quoted by Sky News.
cue peking
London here gives the answer to Beijing. Last year, the communist regime declared nine British officials – including seven MPs – ungrateful person on their land because they had denounced the human rights violations perpetrated by the dictatorship against the Uyghur community.
the speaker of the House of Commons therefore considered that Chinese diplomats had nothing to do under the vaults of the institution for which they are responsible. Already on Wednesday, Lindsay Hoyle had canceled the visit that Zheng Zeguang, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, was going to make to Parliament, denying him access to Westminster Hall, for the same reason.
China invited to the funeral
The extension of this objection of inadmissibility to the delegation that wishes to meditate with the catafalque, therefore, is not so surprising. What’s more, China is invited, at this time, to the official funeral of the late queen. These will take place on Monday in Westminster Abbey, near the legislative chambers. If Xi Jinping is not to make the trip himself, Vice President Wu Qishan is expected to make the trip.
The invitation has angered some British MPs, especially MPs sanctioned by China. They shared a letter to Lindsay Hoyle, again broadcast on Sky News, noting: “Given that the UK Parliament has by its vote recognized the genocide committed by the Chinese government towards the Uyghur people, it is extraordinary that the architects of this same genocide benefit from a more favorable regime than those countries that were denied attendance at the ceremony.
The authors of the letter here refer to Russia, Belarus and Myanmar, three nations that the UK made clear were not welcome on Monday.
According to the BBC, the British government justified the invitation made to China by stressing that it was customary to send such an announcement to all countries with which the kingdom maintains diplomatic relations. Yet while Downing Street has broken with Russia and Belarus since the Ukraine invasion, the British executive is still in communication with his Chinese counterpart. I’m not sure, however, that the exchange will resist this new snub.
Source: BFM TV
