A Liberal Democrat MP refused entry to Hong Kong to see her young grandson has said her experience should be “a wake-up call for any parliamentarian”, given that it seems to show China holds a secret list of banned politicians.
Wera Hobhouse, who was turned back by officials on Thursday, said she was given no explanation as to why this happened, and could only assume that it was because she had spoken out about rights abuses by China.
Speaking earlier on Monday, the Treasury minister James Murray said Douglas Alexander, the trade minister who is currently in China on a visit, had raised the matter with Chinese authorities.
Hobhouse told Sky News that after she and her husband arrived, he was quickly given permission to stay but that she was asked to step aside. The couple’s son, a university academic, lives in Hong Kong, and they hoped to see their three-month-old grandson.
“And at the end of about three hours, my husband was told he was free to go but I was denied entry, and I was going to go back on the next plane home,” Hobhouse said.
The Bath MP said that while she tried to be “cooperative and friendly” in the expectation she would eventually be allowed in, on being told she could not, she “slightly lost it” and demanded an explanation, but was told only, “We are so sorry, Madam, we understand.”
She said: “No explanation was given to me, ever. And this is what is so chilling, and should really be a wake-up call for any parliamentarian, because I had no warning that I was on the blacklist.”
China has in the past publicly banned several British MPs from entering the country, including Iain Duncan Smith and Nusrat Ghani who, like Hobhouse, are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac).
Ipac is an international group of politicians that scrutinises Beijing’s approach to human rights and has criticised the crackdown on free speech in Hong Kong.
Hobhouse said her apparent presence on “a sort of hidden blacklist” appeared likely to be connected to her membership of Ipac.
“I’m a member of Ipac,” she said. “Ipac is watching the human rights adherence, or not, of the Chinese Communist party, but I’m not more outspoken than other MPs about criticising the Chinese Communist party.
“Therefore anybody who ultimately is seen as standing up for freedom, democracy and human rights should feel that they are going to be targeted by the Chinese authorities. And that is really, really chilling.”
Asked how she felt personally about not being able to see her grandchild, Hobhouse said it was “depressing”. She said: “There are many, many more tragedies that are far, far worse, but I am sad.”
Asked about Hobhouse’s case by Sky, Murray said: “We are very concerned about this. We need to find out exactly what happened. And I know that the trade minister, Douglas Alexander, who is in China at the moment, has raised this with authorities there.
“Clearly, it would not be right to prevent a British MP from entering another country purely on the basis of what they had said as a parliamentarian.”
