HONG KONG-CHINA/FOREIGN MINISTRY China says it has right to refuse UK lawmakers entry to Hong Kong
Record ID:
872924
HONG KONG-CHINA/FOREIGN MINISTRY China says it has right to refuse UK lawmakers entry to Hong Kong
- Title: HONG KONG-CHINA/FOREIGN MINISTRY China says it has right to refuse UK lawmakers entry to Hong Kong
- Date: 1st December 2014
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (DECEMBER 1, 2014) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN, HUA CHUNYING, WALKING IN FOR REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN, HUA CHUNYING, SAYING: "I have noticed that someone on the British parliament's foreign affairs committee said that China's banning of them entering Hong Kong was overtly confrontational. I want to say that China said many times to Britain it resolutely opposed the so-called delegation of the British parliament's foreign affairs committee going to Hong Kong for a so-called investigation and asked they cancel the visit. If certain British MPs are bent on doing this, that's what is meant by overt confrontation and this is not beneficial for Sino-British ties." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 16th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAAHYHQPSSVPHJCKMZ1E5MB3QKP
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: China's foreign ministry said on Monday (December 1) Beijing has every right to decide who it lets into Hong Kong, after they said they would refuse entry to British lawmakers to the territory as part of an inquiry.
British lawmakers will not be allowed to enter Hong Kong as part of an inquiry into Britain's relations with its former colony and progress towards democracy there, the head of a parliamentary committee had said on Sunday (November 30). Richard Ottaway, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said in a statement that the Chinese government was acting in a "confrontational manner".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that as Beijing had responsibility for Hong Kong's foreign affairs it had every right to decide who it let into the territory.
"I have noticed that someone on the British parliament's foreign affairs committee said that China's banning of them entering Hong Kong was overtly confrontational. I want to say that China said many times to Britain it resolutely opposed the so-called delegation of the British parliament's foreign affairs committee going to Hong Kong for a so-called investigation and asked they cancel the visit. If certain British MPs are bent on doing this, that's what is meant by overt confrontation and this is not beneficial for Sino-British ties," said Hua.
The committee is looking at Britain's relations with Hong Kong 30 years after it agreed terms for handing the city over to China, and at how those terms are being implemented.
News that the committee cannot visit comes as thousands of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have clashed with police over the way the city's next leaders will be elected in 2017. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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