By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) - Hong Kong has defended denying entry to a British lawmaker, saying the legislator in question "knows best what he or she has done."
Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, Wera Hobhouse, was refused entry to Hong Kong while she was on a visit to see her newborn grandson last week.
Hobhouse is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), which collaborates with global lawmakers "to address challenges posed by China, promoting democratic values, human rights, and a rules-based order."
"The person concerned knows best what he or she has done. It will be unhelpful to the person's case if the person refuses to answer questions put to him or her for that purpose," the Hong Kong government said in a statement late Monday, after the UK raised concern and demanded an explanation.
The government said it has a policy of not commenting on individual cases. "The Immigration Department will deal with each case in accordance with the relevant law and immigration policy."
Hobhouse wrote on the Blue Sky social network that China "cannot use intimidation to stop me from speaking out for human rights, liberty and democracy."
She said she was refused entry to "shut me up and to silence me."
Britain handed over Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday said “border entry is a matter within a country’s sovereignty.”
“The Hong Kong SAR government has the authority to handle individual cases of entry in accordance with relevant laws and policies,” Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing.