A number of MPs and peers have spoken out against the possibility of the Chinese government being invited to the Queen’s funeral on Monday.
Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Conservative Party MP Tim Loughton have written to the Commons Speaker and Lord Speaker, calling it “extraordinary” that Chinese representatives were invited.
According to reports, the Chinese government is considering sending a delegation to the funeral on Monday at Westminster Abbey.
It is unclear whether Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier today, will attend, though vice-president Wang Qishan may travel.
They have cited the exclusion of a number of other countries, including Russia, Belarus, and Myanmar, as well as the fact that the UK parliament previously voted “to recognise the genocide committed by the Chinese Government against the Uyghur people.”
“We are greatly concerned to hear that the Government of China has been invited to attend the state funeral next week, despite other countries Russia, Belarus and Myanmar being excluded.” the letter reads.
“Given that the United Kingdom Parliament has voted to recognise the genocide committed by the Chinese Government against the Uyghur people, it is extraordinary that the architects of that genocide should be treated in any more favourable way than those countries who have been barred.”
In their letter, the MPs and peers said they had also written to newly-appointed Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who took over for Prime Minister Liz Truss last week, to express their concerns.
They wrote: “It is also particularly inappropriate given that seven parliamentarians including ourselves remain sanctioned by the Chinese Government.”
The United Nations recently published a damning assessment of human rights concerns in China’s Xinjiang region.
This concluded that “serious human rights violations” had occurred due to Beijing’s apparent counter-terror and counter-extremism policies.