China has had to act in the matter of violence with pro-democracy protesters outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester. China has recalled its 6 diplomats from Britain. These include senior diplomat Zheng Jiyuan. Zheng was in charge of China's consulate in Manchester. Zheng and his staff were accused of assaulting a pro-democracy protester outside his Manchester office on 16 October.
The British government had asked these six diplomats to waive their diplomatic immunity so that they could be questioned about the October incident. Under diplomatic immunity, diplomats and their family members get special rights. They cannot be prosecuted for any crime or civil case, nor can they be arrested. China called back its 6 officials even before the deadline for giving up diplomatic immunity was over.
Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly gave this information by tweeting. He said that the shameful violence outside the Chinese Consulate in October cannot be accepted. However, he said that now these 6 officers will not be questioned.
At the same time, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy has said that Zheng and the rest of the officials have been called back to China under normal rotation.
In fact, on October 16, some Hong Kong democracy supporters gathered outside China's Manchester office. These people were opposing Chinese President Xi Jinping's getting a third term. During this, the poster banners of the protesters were torn and they were also assaulted. Bob Chan, a protester, was even dragged inside the office and beaten. The police intervened and saved Bob. Now Bob has expressed happiness over the return of Chinese diplomats.
Zheng was seen in some photos of the clash. A senior Conservative Party MP accused him of beating Bob. However, Zheng denied these allegations. But later he said- Bob was abusing my country, my leader. I was trying to save my comrades. It was my duty to do so.
UK officials have said that if these diplomats did not leave diplomatic immunity and did not go back, we would have taken action against them. They could have been thrown out of the UK or declared 'persona non grata'. Under 'persona non grata', the host country bans the work of a diplomat. After this, the country of origin has to call back its diplomat. After which the diplomat has to return to his country within a fixed time limit. According to experts, China called back its diplomats only to avoid this action.