Han Zheng has been Vice President since March of this year. Credit: Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
Foreign secretary defended decision to allow Chinese vice president to attend king's coronation.
James Cleverly said the UK has no control over which representative the country decides to send to this event.
69-year-old Han Zheng was the mastermind behind China's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, when thousands of activists were arrested, many were injured and some were shot dead.
Mr. Han's Predecessor as Vice President The President attended the funeral of Elizabeth II in place of Mr. Xi. The decision to send Mr Khan was called «disrespectful» and «outrageous» by MPs, given his role in cracking down on the 2019 protests.
Responding to a question about the invitation to Times Radio, Mr Cleverley said: «We We do not invite individuals. What we do is invite a representative or two representatives from each country with which we have diplomatic relations.
«And that includes China, who China does send, who any country sends as its representative to the coronation — the right decision for that country.»
His comment came after Sir Ian Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader criticized the invitation.
When asked at the same station what he did with it, he said: «Not so much. I have very little to tell you.
“By the way, this is a man, let's get straight to the point, this abusive, horrible government that is literally committing genocide, torture, abuse of prosecution. in Hong Kong, fighters for democracy. But this person is not just involved. He was deeply guilty in the whole process of persecuting people like Jimmy Lai.
“I think the government was less than strong. I have to tell you this, I hate to say this about my government.»
Sir Ian suggested that the UK sanction some Chinese officials:
«America has sanctioned 10 people in Hong Kong, those responsible for this persecution, we have absolutely not punished anyone,” he said.
“This whole series of abuses continues. And what we are doing at the moment turns a blind eye to this, and I find it terrible. I am under Chinese sanctions for calling this. I will continue … this is a terrible mode. And we seem to be doing very little to tell them we've had enough.»
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