Protecting Hong Kong protesters will bring 'disaster' to Britain, warns China

Words and video report by Will Tullis, ITV News

China has warned that protecting Hong Kong protesters in the UK will "bring disaster" to Britain and may impact trade relations.

The comments came at a press conference on Thursday, 27 October, and is the latest response to a violent incident between Hong Kong protesters and Chinese Consulate staff in Manchester.

Violence erupted outside the Chinese Consulate in Rusholme after Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters clashed with consular staff.

One protester, Bob Chan, was dragged into the grounds of the Consulate and allegedly beaten by diplomats, including Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan - China's most senior diplomat at their Manchester diplomatic base.

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Responding to the events, a Chinese Embassy spokesperson, denounced the protesters as "violent" and warned against protecting them.

"There's nothing peaceful about [the] protest at all", said Minister Yang Xiaoguang of the Chinese Embassy.

"Protecting shelter to the Hong Kong independent elements will only, in the end, bring disaster to Britain", he continued.

People from the Hong Kong community in the UK have urged authorities to do more to protect Hongkongers in light of increased threats from Chinese officials.

"Alex" - whose name has been changed to protect his identity - took part in a Hong Kong pro-democracy protest outside the Chinese Consulate in Rusholme on October 16th.

Speaking about the incident for the first time, he has called for the Consulate to be closed.

"I was shocked and angry, I couldn't believe that Chinese officials attacked protesters", Alex said.

"The Chinese Consulate should be closed and their staff should be removed from this country".

Alex was one of the Hong Kong protesters involved at the incident at the Chinese Consulate in Manchester. He is calling for the Consulate to be permanently closed.

More than 300,000 Hongkongers are expected to come to the UK in the next five years, with Greater Manchester the most popular location for resettlement outside of London. 

Kiku is one of them. Since last year, she has called Eccles home.

Her husband was a pro-democracy activist. After he was arrested - and after the political situation in Hong Kong became more "repressive" - they decided it was time to leave.

"I just want a better life for me and my family. In Hong Kong there is no free thought now, you are just taught to obey and love China", she said. "There is no future for us there."

Kiku is one of many Hongkongers who may have to use the Chinese Consulate.

Her daughter is a Hong Kong passport holder, and does not have British citizenship.

Kiku wants to visit her elderly father overseas - and would have to use the Consulate to get travel documents for her daughter.

"It's so scary. If I go in there I don't know [what] might happen if I go there, because I'm very active in helping Hong Kong people resettle [in the UK]", she said.

She fears she could be arrested if she were to go to the Chinese Consulate.

Kiku is urging UK authorities to do more to protect Hongkongers from Chinese threats

Kiku's story is not unique.

Thousands of Hongkongers without British citizenship may need to use the Chinese Consulate to renew Hong Kong passports, certify documents, or for other legal and administrative reasons.

After the alleged assault of Hong Kong protesters in Rusholme earlier this month however, many Hongkongers are wary of using the Consulate, and are calling for an alternative.

Simon Cheng was detained in mainland China while he was an employed by the British Consulate in Hong Kong.

Simon claims he was then tortured by the Chinese, and accused of being a spy.

"I was hooded, shackled, blindfolded for hours", Simon claims. "They beat me and deprived me of sleep...every time I was about to fall asleep, they would make me sing the Chinese National Anthem", he continued.

"I can't believe they'd use the national anthem as a method of torture".

China rejects the claims and has warned the UK "not to meddle" in Chinese affairs.

Simon now runs Hongkongers in Britain, an organisation that seeks to help newly arrived Hongkongers settle and integrate into UK life.

The organisation has a presence in North West, due to the high numbers of Hongkongers arriving here. 

"Many more Hong Kong people are moving to Manchester and the [North West] in the coming months.

"We urge the British government to protect us and other ordinary citizens from threats from states like China", he said.

Simon Cheng wants the British government to protect "ordinary citizens" from powerful states like China.

Tens of thousands of Hongkongers have left the city in the past few years, with many choosing to resettle elsewhere due to increasing political repression. 

More than 110,000 Hong Kong residents left in the past year - the peninsula's biggest population decline since records began.

More Hongkongers are expected to resettle in the North West following the expansion of the UK's British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme.

The scheme in its current form was introduced following what the Foreign Office calls increased political repression in Hong Kong.

It gives Hongkongers a route to resettlement, and eventually citizenship, in the UK.

The expansion means that those born after 1997 in Hong Kong will now be eligible for the scheme. 

In Manchester, Liverpool, Eccles and across the region, Kiku and many others build new lives.

They may be thousands of miles from Hong Kong, but the events in Rusholme have - for Kiku and other Hongkongers in the region - felt too close to home.