Chinese ambassador to UK barred from Parliament

China’s ambassador to Britain has been barred from Parliament and told he could not enter the building for a talk he was scheduled to give

LONDON -- China’s ambassador to Britain has been barred from Parliament and told he could not enter the building for a talk he was scheduled to give on Wednesday.

Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said Tuesday it was not “appropriate” for the Chinese ambassador, Zheng Zeguang, to enter Parliament because China imposed sanctions against seven British parliamentarians over their criticism of Beijing’s human rights record.

Zheng was due to attend a reception in the House of Commons organized by a cross-party parliamentary group on China.

John McFall, Hoyle’s counterpart in the upper chamber, the House of Lords, agreed that the scheduled meeting “should take place elsewhere, considering the current sanctions against members.”