Chinese Officials Offended by British Delegation’s Remembrance Day Poppies

Diplomats said the flowers were a reminder of the 19th Century Opium Wars between the two countries.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is on a state visit to Beijing this week and was taken aback to learn the poppies worn by his delegation had caused his Chinese hosts offence. The British defeated Chinese forces in the Opium Wars, a victory that led to decades of foreign subjugation and the fall of China’s last dynasty. British officials reportedly explained the poppies were an important symbol of remembrance and that they wouldn’t remove them. The incident was only a small sticking point among larger issues. Cameron’s visit to China is his first since a British man was executed there for drug smuggling despite official protests from London. In a speech Wednesday, Cameron pressed China on its human rights record.