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A Liberal Democrat MP barred from entering Hong Kong<\/a> has told the BBC she believes it was to “shut me up and to silence me”. <\/p>\n Wera Hobhouse flew to the Chinese region with her husband on Thursday to visit her son and newborn grandson. However she was detained at the airport, questioned and deported. <\/p>\n The MP for Bath, one of more than 40 parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac) which criticises Beijing’s handling of human rights, said she was given no reason for being refused entry. <\/p>\n Speaking on the BBC’s Newscast show on Sunday, she said she wants “some answers”, and said she was not very “outspoken about China”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hobhouse told Newscast she and her husband had been “looking forward” to visiting their son, who has lived in Hong Kong since 2019.<\/p>\n While her husband “got processed quite quickly” and was allowed entry, she was taken aside for questioning, held for five hours and then put on a return flight. <\/p>\n Asked by presenter Laura Kuenssberg what the authorities said about why she was being detained, Hobhouse responded: “Nothing.”<\/p>\n “They said not to worry at first, just a few questions to answer.”<\/p>\n In response to the suggestion it could be due to her involvement in Ipac, which scrutinises Beijing’s human rights record, Hobhouse said she was not very “outspoken about China”.<\/p>\n “I was only standing up for our values,” she said.<\/p>\n “It would be terrible if China uses this now to intimidate me, to stop me from speaking out for human rights and liberty and democracy.<\/p>\n “That is the last thing that should happen, but that is, of course probably the intention, to shut me up and to silence me.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hobhouse said she had experienced huge amount of solidarity from “very worried” MPs.<\/p>\n Foreign Secretary David Lammy has promised to “urgently” raise the issue with authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing and “demand an explanation”<\/p>\n He added it would be “unacceptable for an MP to be denied entry for simply expressing their views as a parliamentarian”.<\/p>\n Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey has called for Lammy to summon the Chinese ambassador, adding the Chinese government cannot be allowed to “undermine our democracy by intimidating our parliamentarians.”<\/p>\n “I want some answers,” Hobhouse said, calling for Lammy to “reassure parliamentarians that this is not the way the Chinese communist parties can treat [them]”.<\/p>\n It comes a week after two Labour MPs were denied entry to Israel<\/a> while on a trip to visit the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n “It is very chilling that authoritarian countries can treat us in this way,” said Hobhouse, adding the “diplomatic understanding” in which we allow politicians into each other’s countries seemed to be “collapsing”.<\/p>\n She has ruled out approaching the Chinese embassy for permission enter Hong Kong, saying they will see their relatives elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Asked about the timing of the incident in the week the UK government sought to take control of the Chinese-owned<\/a> British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, Lincs, Hobhouse said she could only speculate.<\/p>\n She called for a “clear-eyed” approach to what China wants from Britain, saying “it’s not just fluffy, friendly relationships”.<\/p>\n “They want something from us. They use us and we must not be na\u00efve about giving them access to too much, for example our critical national infrastructure.”<\/p>\n The Chinese Embassy has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n