Japanese city councillor sent home for ‘political meddling’

HONG KONG: Japanese politician Kenichiro Wada, who has been criticised by Beijing for “interfering” in local politics by showing support to Hong Kong’s prodemocracy forces, said yesterday that he was barred from entering Hong Kong the previous day.

“I arrived at Hong Kong airport at around 10pm on Thursday,” Mr Wada said via telephone. “About 10 immigration officials came to check my passport and took me to a separate room. Soon after, they put me on another plane bound back to Japan via Taiwan.”

Mr Wada, a city assembly member from Shiroi in Chiba Prefecture neighbouring Tokyo, posted on his Facebook and Twitter accounts a portion of what is believed to be a refusal notice issued by the Immigration Department stating that he was refused entry to the territory.

Mr Wada said no reason was given for his barred entry. He also dismissed as inaccurate reports by pro-Beijing dailies concerning his alleged meddling in Hong Kong politics.

“News reports by the likes of Wenweipo about my campaigning for pro-democracy activist Au Nok-hin in Hong Kong in the March by-election were untrue. We had met and I gave him a Daruma doll to wish him victory, but I had not gone on stage or participated in any high-profile campaigning activities,” Mr Wada said.

He said he had planned to take a sightseeing tour in Hong Kong and privately meet with Mr Au.

The Immigration Department has yet to comment.

Mr Wada’s presence in Hong Kong to support Mr Au in his bid in the Legislative Council by-election in March drew criticism from Beijing.

Pro-Beijing newspapers including Wenweipo have called Mr Wada a “right wing anti-China activist, a Taiwan independence advocate and a core member of the Friends of Lee Teng-Hui Association in Japan”.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry office in Hong Kong has called Mr Wada’s campaigning for Mr Au “blatant meddling in Hong Kong’s election, reckless trampling on international law and rude interference in Hong Kong and China’s internal affairs”.

Mr Au, who won in the by-election, said Mr Wada was also denied an interpreter or consular access while being held up.

“Mr Wada could be barred because of his political views,” Mr Au told reporters. “It is worrisome that Hong Kong is cutting itself off from the international community, that the government is trying to stop the exchange between civil societies in Hong Kong and the global communities and to suppress freedom of speech.”

Other foreign politicians have also been barred from entering Hong Kong without reason.

Benedict Rogers, the deputy chair of British Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission who openly criticised China’s encroachment of Hong Kong’s autonomy and championed for the cause of the city’s pro-democracy activists, was denied entry into Hong Kong after arriving from Thailand last October without being given a reason.

Young activist group Demosisto, whose member Agnes Chow had met with Mr Wada during her previous Japan visit, said freedom of movement of harmless individuals should not be violated.

“The government’s refusal to let foreign politicians enter Hong Kong based on their political stance in recent years is a clear violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as a manifestation of the state of corruption of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle’,” the group said.