BRISBANE—A new court ruling may determine whether diplomatic immunity extends to consular officials involved in threatening or harming locals.
The District Court case on March 13 was held regarding the 2019 incident when Chinese Consular General Xu Jie publicly lauded the assault of student activist, Drew Pavlou, at the University of Queensland (UQ).
Pavlou took part in a July 2019 protest supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy activists fighting against a then-proposed extradition law that would curtail the human rights of residents.
In response, Pavlou was attacked on university grounds by Chinese international students. Xu released a statement praising their actions.
“The consulate general attaches great importance to the safety of Chinese students, affirms the spontaneous patriotic behaviour of Chinese students,” he said….