China defies court order over building of wall at Belfast consulate

A row over the construction of a wall at the Chinese consulate in Belfast has escalated after China said it would ignore a legal order to temporarily halt the work.

A letter from lawyers for the Chinese embassy in London to residents objecting to the security wall said diplomatic staff did not recognise the jurisdiction of courts in Northern Ireland.

Martin McBurney, who lives facing China’s consulate in the salubrious Malone area of the city, won an injunction aimed at stopping the building work two weeks ago, but the work has continued this week.

The consulate opened five years ago, and the work to fortify the exterior wall began in February. Builders were flown in from China for the project and they have worked at the site throughout the coronavirus crisis.

Chinese diplomats did not apply for permission for the project through the normal planning procedures. Residents oppose it because they say it is in a conservation area that includes many trees that have been felled during the building programme.

In response to a warning from McBurney’s solicitor that they were going to the high court in Belfast to enforce the stop notice, a lawyer for the Chinese embassy wrote: “Our client does not accept the jurisdiction of the courts and will not participate in the proceedings.

“However, to assist the court we have set out our detailed legal points and the application is based on untrue facts. The claim in the high court is highly disrespectful to our client.”

When residents put in objections to Belfast City Hall, the council claimed Chinese consulate staff had diplomatic immunity that allowed them to ignore planning laws.

However, the outgoing attorney general for Northern Ireland, John Larkin QC, confirmed to the residents of Malone Park and Adelaide Park that planning laws were not covered by diplomatic immunity.

China’s lawyers in London repeated their claim that “our client maintains diplomatic immunity and the consulate is inviolable”.

The letter added: “Our client does not accept that the enforcement notices were valid because our client is entitled to diplomatic immunity.”

McBurney said the response from the embassy’s representatives was “bizarre and arrogant”.

He and other residents objecting to the construction project have alleged that the city council tried to ignore normal planning application rules because of a desire to entice Chinese economic investment into Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland.