A former minister who was sanctioned by China was detained and deported after a trip to Djibouti, an east African country with close ties to Beijing, The Times reported.
Tim Loughton, a Tory MP and member of the home affairs select committee, arrived in Djibouti for a 24-hour visit that included a meeting with the British ambassador. However, he was detained for seven hours at the airport, barred from entering the country and told that he would be removed on the next available flight.
He told The Daily Telegraph that he believes his “intimidating” detention and expulsion was a “direct consequence” of his criticism of China.
Loughton is one of seven parliamentarians who have been sanctioned by China after speaking out against “industrial scale” human rights abuses by China against the Uighurs, Tibetans and people who live in Hong Kong.
Djibouti, one of Africa’s smallest nations, has close ties to China and has received billions of dollars in investment, including a new stadium, a hospital and a space port. China has built a naval base in the country and stationed 2,000 troops there. It holds $1.4 billion of Djibouti’s debt, the equivalent of 45 per cent of its national income.
