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Envoy Zheng Zeguang was to address a group of members of the House of Commons and House of Lords who are working this week to promote relations between the United Kingdom and China.
But Iain Duncan Smith, one of nine MPs sanctioned by China for speaking out against Communist Party policies, especially with regard to Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, said the visit would be “reprehensible.”
Sanctions imposed on MPs and their families in March barred them from entering mainland China and the former British colony of Hong Kong, among others.
Duncan Smith and others on the sanctions list wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, demanding that Zheng be barred from speaking in the House of Commons.
In his statement, Hoyle responded that he meets regularly with ambassadors from around the world to strengthen parliamentary ties.
“However, I do not think it is appropriate for the Chinese ambassador to meet in the premises of the House of Commons and in our workplace when his country has imposed sanctions on some of our members,” he said. “If these sanctions were lifted, of course, that would not be a problem.”
