Season 1 Episode 4
Conversation with Simon
Beijing’s plans to open a new super embassy at a historic site in London received an unexpected blow when local councillors in the London borough of Tower Hamlets rejected plans for construction of the embassy opposite the Tower of London. It would have been the largest diplomatic base in Britain. This podcast will bring together three campaigners who worked with local residents and councilors to achieve this major victory.
The podcast will also discuss two more new developments:
A few days after the Tower Hamlets decision, on Human Rights Day, 10 December, the Biden administration sanctioned two Chinese officials over their abuse of Tibetans’ human rights. The two senior officials sanctioned were Wu Yingjie, Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary between 2016 and 2021, and Zhang Hongbo, director of the TAR Public Security Bureau from 2018 to this year. Both were accused of ‘serious human rights abuse’ and under the sanctions the US freezes any property owned by the officials, and together with their families, they are barred from entering the country.
In our earlier Roof of the World podcast focused on China’s transnational policing (https://fnvaworld.org/chinas-transnational-repression-a-conversation-with-laura-harth-safeguard-defenders/) and how Hong Kong protester Bob Chan was beaten up by Chinese consular officials in Manchester. We report in this podcast about the outcome – that the Chinese diplomats involved have now left the UK.
