BEIJING — China has denied Hong Kong visas to a group of British members of Parliament after the lawmakers signaled they were going to look into the handling of the pro-democracy protests, the chairman of the group said.
Richard Ottaway, the head of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, planned to seek an emergency debate on Hong Kong in Parliament on Monday.
The refusal Friday to grant visas came days after a British lawmaker who had served as a diplomat in China was denied a visa by Beijing on the grounds that his attitude toward the Hong Kong protesters was not acceptable.
China’s hard line on granting visas to British critics of the Hong Kong authorities has unfolded as Prime Minister David Cameron has tried to improve trade and investment opportunities with Beijing. Some say Mr. Cameron has muted rebukes of China in an effort to win more British business there, and more Chinese investment in Britain.
To further cement the relationship, Prince William has accepted an invitation from China to visit the mainland next spring.
Mr. Ottaway said in London on Friday that the Chinese Embassy had informed him that if he and his colleagues arrived in Hong Kong they would be refused entry.
“The Chinese government are acting in an overtly confrontational manner in refusing us access to do our job,†Mr. Ottaway said. The Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees the Foreign Office, has been questioning Britain’s relations with the Hong Kong government.
The British Foreign Office said in a statement that it was “regrettable†that China had said it would refuse entry to the delegation. The move was inconsistent with the recent trend in positive relations between Britain and China and contravened the spirit of the joint declaration 30 years ago between them on Hong Kong, the statement said.
Last week, Richard Graham, a former diplomat in the British Embassy in Beijing and now a Conservative lawmaker, was refused a visa by the Chinese Embassy in London as he was about to leave for a three-day trip to China.
Mr. Graham, the head of the All-Party Parliamentary China Group, was told by the Chinese Embassy to clarify his approach to Hong Kong. In October, he had told Parliament that Britain had a duty to uphold the principles of the 1984 joint declaration by Britain and China.
That document formed the basis of Britain’s return of Hong Kong to China on the grounds that Hong Kong would be allowed greater freedoms than the mainland under the “one country, two systems†agreement.
The British Foreign Office said it would ask the Chinese government why the group headed by Mr. Graham was refused entry to the mainland. “We have raised this with the Chinese government and sought an explanation of their decision to deny a visa,†the statement said.
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