A group of UK lawmakers have called off a trip to China after one MP was refused a visa in retaliation for staging a debate on the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
According to the Guardian, Conservative MP Richard Graham was asked to provide a statement ‘clarifying his thinking’ on the Hong Kong demonstrations.
The group of cross-party parliamentarians, led by Labour politician Peter Mandelson, issued an ultimatum to the Chinese embassy in London that Mr Graham’s visa be approved or the whole trip would be cancelled.
The embassy failed to agree to the demand by 5pm on Monday. The delegation was meant to leave on Tuesday morning for a three-day visit to Shanghai.
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to the South China Morning Post, the embassy had raised concerns that the parliamentarians might visit the Occupy Central protest camps after their trip to Shanghai.
Mr Graham had called for a probe into possible breaches by Beijing of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration promising the territory a high degree of autonomy.
In a speech in British parliament last month, Mr Graham said Hong Kong residents should be given “a real choice in who becomes Hong Kong’s future leader”.
“To implement universal suffrage in a way that does not offer real choice to the people of Hong Kong would risk a low turnout and would be a hollow achievement that gave the future Chief Executive a fragile mandate,” he said.
He served at the British embassy in Beijing and as British consul in Macau in the 1980s.
Over 80 people haves been arrested over the past 24 hours as police helped clear a key pro-democracy protest site in Mongkok.
