'This is turning into a mess': Ex-Tory leader hopes for U-turn on visit by Chinese official from 'genocide' province
A potential visit by the governor of the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the Foreign Office "is turning into a mess", former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said.
Downing Street said Erkin Tuniyaz was set to visit the Foreign Office, but the news caused outrage among MPs.
Parliament and many other bodies have said the Uyghurs are suffering genocide at the hands of the Communist Party of China in Xinjiang.
Rishi Sunak's spokesman told reporters this morning that officials are set to meet Mr Tuniyaz to make clear the UK's "abhorrence" at the treatment of the Uyghur people.
Sir Iain told Sky News: "The reality is he should never have been told he would be welcome.
"He's coming off his own back. This looks to me a little bit like sophistry, perhaps organised by the embassy out in China so that he comes without officially being invited.
"But then, because he's here, we ought to see him and tell him that we don't approve of him. That would be a coup for the Chinese government right now."
Sir Iain said he hoped there would be a U-turn from the government.
He added: "If they allow their officials to see him, that is an official visit.
"It's no good saying he just happened to be here so we saw him. That would be an official visit of a man responsible for a genocide, over a million people now in labour camps, women being forcibly sterilised, children in re-education camps.
"This alone is an utter disaster, and we should have no truck with it."

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.