2 weeks Ago By Kelly Ho
Hong Kong authorities have defended their immigration policy after a British lawmaker said she was refused entry to the city last week.UK MP Wera Hobhouse. File photo: Wera Hobhouse, via Facebook.
“The Immigration Department will deal with each case in accordance with the relevant law and immigration policy,” the government said in a statement on Monday night. “It is the duty of [an] immigration officer to ask questions to ascertain that there is no doubt about the purpose of any visit.”UK MP Wera Hobhouse said that she was turned away on Thursday when she flew to the city to see her newborn grandson.
She wrote on Bluesky: “I am the first MP to be refused entry on arrival to Hong Kong since 1997,” the year Britain returned the city to China.The Hong Kong government also said, “The person concerned knows best what he or she has done. It will be unhelpful to the person’s case if the person refuses to answer questions put to him or her for that purpose.
”According to the statement, during a meeting with UK Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security Douglas Alexander in Hong Kong on Monday afternoon, the city’s Chief Secretary Eric Chan “exchanged views” on the matter and reiterated the government’s stance. Chief Secretary Eric Chan. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
The UK government released a statement on Monday, saying that Alexander had “relayed our immediate and deep concern” to Chan regarding Hobhouse’s denial of entry. Alexander also demanded an explanation of why the Hong Kong authorities refused access to a British MP, it said.“As the Foreign Secretary [David Lammy] has made clear, and Ministry Alexander relayed in person, it would be unacceptable for any MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views,” the statement read.
Lammy earlier said: “It is deeply concerning to hear that an MP on a personal trip has been refused entry to Hong Kong.” Hobhouse, a Liberal Democrat MP, told The Sunday Times newspaper that her passport was confiscated by Hong Kong immigration officers, who also asked about her job and the purpose of her visit. Her luggage was also searched before she was taken to the boarding gate, she said.
Hobhouse wrote on Facebook on Monday that it was “incredibly tough” for her to know that her son was waiting for her in the arrival hall when she was denied entry to the city.“I just wanted to see him and hold my grandson,” she said. “Let’s be clear – my treatment is an insult to all parliamentarians, and there must be a full explanation of why it happened.
”UK Parliament. File photo: UK Parliament, via Facebook.Hobhouse has been a member of parliament since 2017.
She is also a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a coalition of more than 200 lawmakers from 40 jurisdictions founded in June 2020.IPAC has called on countries to address “threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China,” according to the group’s website.In the high-profile national security trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai, local prosecutors accused IPAC of lobbying for foreign sanctions to be imposed against Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials after the promulgation of the national security law in the city on June 30, 2020.
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