County MP is banned from China in tit-for-tat reaction

O’BRIEN ONE OF NINE TARGETED AFTER SPEAKING OUT OVER ABUSES

AN MP has been banned from travelling to China after British MPs condemned the state for human rights violations.

Neil O’Brien, Conservative member for Harborough, and his immediate family are not allowed to enter the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, as of yesterday.

The sanctions come as MPs spoke out in the House of Commons against Chinese officials, deeming them responsible for the “appalling” treatment towards the Uyghur community.

As a retaliatory measure, China hit back and sanctioned nine British MPs, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, and four institutions.

According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the

People’s Republic of China: “Their (named British MPs) property in China will be frozen, and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them.”

Issues were raised after the BBC obtained detailed accounts of women being systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured in China’s “re-education” camps for Uyghur Muslims.

Mr O’Brien, pictured, said yesterday: “The first-ever sanctions against MPs by Beijing are a big deal, and demonstrate exactly the concerns we have been raising.”

A statement released earlier on behalf of Mr O’Brien read: “Ultimately this (China’s sanction) is just an attempt to distract from the international condemnation of Beijing’s increasingly grave human rights violations against the Uyghurs.

“This is the first time Beijing has targeted elected politicians in the UK with sanctions and shows they are increasingly pushing boundaries.

“It is tempting to laugh off this measure as a diplomatic tantrum, but in reality it is profoundly sinister and just serves as a clear demonstration of many of the concerns we have been raising about the direction of China under Xi Jinping.”

Mr O’Brien was involved in the China Research Group, the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Uyghur Tribunal and Essex Court Chambers, the four entities which have also been banned by China.

Mr Raab said the abuse of Uyghur Muslims in the XinJiang region was “one of the worst human rights crises of our time” and the international community “cannot simply look the other way”.

He announced a package of travel bans and asset freezes against four Chinese senior officials, as well as the state-run Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau.

When announcing his sanctions on Monday, Mr Raab told the House of Commons: “Over a million people have been detained without trial, there are widespread claims of torture and rape in the camps, based on first-hand survivor testimony.

“I’m sure the whole House will join me in condemning such appalling violations of the most basic human rights.”

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the move by Mr Raab was “based on nothing but lies and disinformation”.

■ H&M also sanctioned, Page 13.