By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-01-31 07:46:25 | Updated at 2025-01-31 10:58:39
3 hours ago
Lord Mandelson, the incoming British ambassador to the US, met a Chinese official who led Beijing's "programme of transnational intimidation", it has emerged.
In June 2023, the Labour peer was pictured shaking hands with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) bigwig Liu Jianchao - a man who has been labelled a "horrific thug" who "ruthlessly hounded" enemies of the Chinese state.
A press release on the CCP's international department's website says Mandelson and Liu met to discuss "strategic communication with major political parties in the UK" and the "positive development of UK-China and EU-China relations".
And following the trip, Bloomberg reported that China had asked Mandelson to push Western businesses to return and expand in the east Asian powerhouse after the pandemic.
PICTURED: Lord Mandelson meets Liu Jianchao
IDCPC
While Luke de Pulford, founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: "Liu Jianchao had responsibility for Beijing's programme of transnational intimidation.
"Under his leadership, Uyghurs, Hongkongers and others were ruthlessly hounded, their families threatened and some even illegally abducted.
"No self-respecting UK politician would be happy to be pictured alongside that horrific thug."
'No self-respecting UK politician would be happy to be pictured alongside that horrific thug,' Luke de Pulford said
GETTY
A friend of Mandelson told The Times: "There is nothing sinister about this. Peter has had a long-standing interest in Sino-British relations and served two terms as the president of the Great Britain China centre, which is sponsored by the Foreign Office.
"The British Embassy and No10 have always been keen to have channels to China, and Peter has always been very open about that. He doesn't hold back from criticising China directly during those meetings."
