An MP has been barred from entering Hong Kong to visit her own newborn grandson in a “heartless and totally unacceptable” crackdown by Chinese authorities.
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse had flown to the former British Crown Colony on Thursday – but was held up and interrogated at airport security by immigration officers for five hours before being deported.
Hobhouse had her passport confiscated, was probed about her job and purpose of her trip, had her luggage searched and swabbed, and was then frogmarched to the boarding gate by authorities.
The Bath MP told The Times she was left “shocked” and “very close to tears” when she was refused entry – and said she had not even been able to hug her own son who was waiting for her in arrivals.
Hobhouse had her passport confiscated, was probed about her job and purpose of her trip, had her luggage searched and swabbed, and was then frogmarched to the boarding gate by authorities
PA
Her party leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Wera just wanted to visit her son in Hong Kong and meet her baby grandson for the first time.
“But after a 13-hour flight, the Chinese authorities turned her away – just because she’s a British MP. So heartless. And totally unacceptable.”
Davey has since written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy to demand he “urgently” meet Hobhouse and summon the Chinese ambassador in London “to provide a full account of why a British MP and her family have been treated in such an appalling way”.
William, her businessman husband, was with her and was allowed to enter – but decided to return to Britain with his wife.
Hobhouse had never visited Hong Kong prior – and had been excited to spend time with her son’s family, having seen them just a handful of times in recent years.
“My son was waiting at the other end at arrivals,” she said. “I couldn’t even see him and give him a hug and I hadn’t seen him in a year.
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Sir Ed Davey said: ‘The Chinese authorities turned her away – just because she’s a British MP. So heartless. And totally unacceptable’
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“When I was given the decision, my voice was shaking – and I was just saying: ‘Why, please explain to me?’ They never gave me an explanation. That was so cruel.”
Hobhouse is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), an international group of politicians which is highly critical of China – and has vocally opposed Beijing’s crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong.
And it comes just days after Ipac founder Luke de Pulford and other top security experts warned of the growing threats of China to GB News.
Henry Jackson Society think tank director Alan Mendoza labelled China a “paranoid state” which wants to “cut down” any kind of criticism towards it.
“The Chinese Communists, perhaps unlike Putin’s Russia, are still very capable of being embarrassed on the world stage… that’s why they respond so aggressively and angrily when they’re denounced for human rights issues,” he told GB News.
PICTURED: Hong Kong pro-democracy activists cover the seal of the territory with its British colonial ensignGETTYFour years ago, Beijing sanctioned five Tory MPs and two peers who had regularly criticised human rights abuses of Uighur Muslims.
But Hobhouse said this weekend: “I’ve said very little about the Uighurs… never have I stuck my head above the parapet.
“Because I was going to Hong Kong, I wanted to absolutely ensure that none of my political things would interfere with my private visit. If I had any sort of guilty conscience I would have been a bit more careful – but I didn’t.”
It also follows the repeated targeting of Hongkongers in the UK by Chinese authorities.
A few weeks ago, it emerged that neighbours of Hong Kong activists received letters encouraging them to hand them in to the Chinese embassy.
A spokesman for said embassy claimed in response that the letters were fraudulent, and “the concoctors of this botched farce lack common sense and discriminative ability”.
Hong Kong descended into mass protest six years ago after Chinese Communist Party-aligned officials in the territory cracked down on free speech, elections and introduced extradition to the mainland under the guise of national security.
A few years later, when Hongkongers took to the streets in Manchester, unidentified men emerged from the city’s Chinese consulate and forced a protester inside before beating him up.
