British government slammed for refusing to summon Chinese envoy over MPs’ travel ban
London was strongly censured by a British parliamentary committee for refusing to launch a full-scale diplomatic protest with China’s ambassador over a travel ban to Hong Kong.
British parliamentarians monitoring post-handover Hong Kong have censured the London government for refusing to issue a diplomatic protest to China's ambassador over a ban on them visiting the city.
Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee members engaged Minister of State Hugo Swire in tense exchanges on Tuesday for snubbing a request to summon Liu Xiaoming .
Swire, who oversees relations with China, including Hong Kong, said the proposal "would not have been an entirely productive thing". The Conservative MP admitted it was his decision not to request Liu's presence.
But the committee called the snub an insult to parliament and Britain as a whole.
"How much more offensive could the Chinese government have been before you said, 'I think we got to summon him'?" committee chairman Richard Ottaway, also from the Conservative party, asked Swire.
"We don't easily publish reports saying that an ambassador should be summoned and don't really expect our Foreign Office to say, 'No, we don't agree with you; we don't put the rejection that high [on our priorities]'."