UK MP Tim Loughton deported from African nation as ‘direct result’ of Chinese sanctions
Tim Loughton, a sitting MP from Britain’s ruling Conservative Party who has been sanctioned by China, has revealed that he was deported from Djibouti as a “direct result” of closer ties with Beijing soon after his arrival in the East African nation. Detained and deported. ,
Lawton, who has been the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham since 1997, told The Daily Telegraph that the incident on April 8 was “no accident, but a direct consequence of being one of seven British MPs sanctioned by China. three years ago”.
According to the MP, she and six others were sanctioned for “speaking out against the industrial-scale human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese Communist government against Uighurs, Tibetans and, now, increasingly, against the people of Hong Kong”.
Djibouti, Africa’s smallest country, has received billions of dollars of investment from China, which includes a new stadium, hospital and a $1 billion spaceport, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The Asian giant has also built a naval base in Djibouti, deployed 2,000 troops there and owes the country more than $1.4 billion, which is 45 percent of its gross domestic product.
The former minister told The Daily Telegraph that he had arrived in Djibouti from neighboring Somaliland on April 8 for a 24-hour visit to meet the British ambassador to the country.
He said he was the first one to deboard the plane and proceeded to complete the immigration formalities and collect his visa.
“I politely explained that I would be in the country for barely 24 hours, and a tour guide would take me to the airport… But as soon as I revealed that I was a British MP, and my passport was checked, Things definitely got frosty,” he told the newspaper.
The Conservative Party MP said he was held without explanation for an hour in the arrivals hall, after which an immigration officer took him to a holding room where he was locked and held alone for three hours.
“They didn’t give me any reason. I kept saying: ‘Why?’ And they couldn’t tell me… In short, it was a very scary and very lonely experience in a very strange country.”
“Under these circumstances, I failed to proceed past the immigration desk and onto the airport tarmac, from where I was suddenly deported without explanation after more than seven hours of horrific detention.”
Lawton further said that he had raised the issue with Britain’s Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell and had also written to the Djibouti envoy through the Foreign Office in protest at the “disgraceful” behaviour.
However, a Chinese embassy spokesperson said the allegations were “completely baseless” and called them “fabricated and scandalous rhetoric that seeks to defame China and poison China-UK relations”, The Guardian reported. Having said.