UK 'should stand up to China’s bullying’

CHINA is bullying a "weak" United Kingdom because of our failure to stand up to their aggression and human rights abuses, senior Tory Sir Iain Duncan Smith has warned.

- Jonathan Walker

He demanded Chinese diplomats accused of assaulting a protester in Manchester be expelled.

The former Cabinet minister has met Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and issued a blunt warning about the threat from China, where President Xi Jinping was last week awarded a third term in office.

He said: "Project kowtow is alive and well and it is destroying our reputation. We look weak and now the Chinese are making us look even weaker."

Sir lay, a former Tory leader, was one of the first to speak out against abuses committed against China's Uyghur population in Xinjiang region. In response, China last year imposed sanctions on him, along with nine other UK organisations and individuals.