Chinese government delegation banned from Queen's Lying-in-State in UK Parliament complex: Reports
London, Sep 16: The UK has refused permission for a high-level Chinese government delegation to attend Queen Elizabeth's Lying-in-State at Westminster Hall within the Parliament complex before the funeral at Westminster Abbey here on September 19, according to UK media reports on Friday.
House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is said to have refused a request for access to Westminster Hall due to Chinese sanctions against five British members of Parliament and two peers for accusing Beijing of mistreating its Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, Politico' and the BBC have reported.
While the House of Commons said it did not comment on security matters, the media reports claimed that China would have a presence at the funeral but not be allowed into the Parliament building.
As Westminster Hall forms part of the parliamentary estate, it is under the control of the Commons and the Lords Speakers. The move is likely to further strain UK-China relations, which have been under some pressure in recent times.
According to reports, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping as Head of State of a country with which the UK has diplomatic relations. It is thought that the vice-president, Wang Qishan, will be sent in his place along with a Chinese delegation.
The latest development comes after the sanctioned MPs had raised objections about the Chinese President being invited to the funeral at all.
In March last year, China had sanctioned nine individuals and four organisations in the UK in retaliation after Britain imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses in its Xinjiang province.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party, as well as Tory MPs Tom Tugendhat, Neil O'Brien, Tim Loughton and Nusrat Ghani are among those sanctioned as they and their families were banned from entering Chinese territory.
"You cannot have a Golden Age, normal relations, with a country that has now been exposed as committing the sorts of atrocities it has, not least the genocide against the Uighurs, the oppression going on in Tibet for the last 60/70 years, and now what we see going on in Hong Kong as well," Loughton told the BBC.
The sanctioned MPs had sent a letter to the Parliament Speakers earlier this week to seek assurances that representatives from Beijing would not be allowed onto the parliamentary estate. They had also raised objections in a letter to the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly.
Downing Street has said that it is a convention that countries with which the UK has diplomatic relations should be invited to state funerals. Three national governments have not been invited to the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II over the ongoing war in Ukraine Russia, Belarus and Myanmar.
Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on several senior Chinese following rights abuse allegations against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.
China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged. China has rejected those charges.
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Modi's Israel visit not good for Mahatma's India: Mehbooba
Srinagar (PTI): Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Israel was against the country's policy and not a good sign for Mahatma Gandhi's India.
She called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "criminal" who is afraid of visiting many countries lest he be arrested.
"I think our country's policy is against it. Today, the whole world opposes Israel PM Netanyahu. The International Criminal Court has indicted him. He does not visit many countries for fear of arrest. Modi, who represents 140 crore people, goes there and hugs a criminal, meets and talks to him, I think, it is not a good sign for our country, for Gandhi's India," Mehbooba told reporters in Anantnag.
On panchayat elections due in Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba said they should be conducted because the people at the ground-level are beset with problems.
"People believed that after the government was formed, their difficulties would be resolved, but they are not being addressed. So, Panchayat elections should take place, and I request the people not to see a party, but elect good persons so that they serve them tomorrow," she said.
Asked about the anti-corruption bureau raid on a house of a brother of Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Chowdhary, the PDP chief said, "The raid on the brother of the deputy CM makes it clear on whose backing the brother does everything."
"You should ask this question to the deputy CM," the PDP leader added.
VIDEO | Khanbal, J&K: On PM Narendra Modi's visit to Israel, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti says, "PM went and hugged a criminal. He (Netanyahu) has been shunned by the world, banned from entering many countries."
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 26, 2026
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/JuvwoEShxZ
