MP expelled from Djibouti over criticism of China

A Conservative MP claims he was expelled during a trip to Djibouti because of the East African country’s close ties to China.

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said he was detained for more than seven hours before being “escorted” to a flight from Djibouti earlier this month.

Mr Loughton, who had sanctions imposed in 2021 by Beijing, said the experience was “very lonely and scary”.

China’s Foreign Ministry said the accusations were baseless.

Mr Loughton was in Djibouti for a 24-hour visit, which included a meeting with the British ambassador.

He said that when he arrived, his passport was scanned and he was asked what he had done.

He told the BBC: “I told them I was an MP and then everything got very frosty.

“Djibouti is in fact a vassal state of China – what China wants, Djibouti kowtows to it and having a troublesome MP who has been sanctioned by China show up on its doorstep was clearly something it did not want consider.”

He said he was placed on the next available flight out of the country.

He said: “This is another example of how the tentacles of the Chinese communist government extend far and wide, and their malign influence in sensitive parts of Africa is particularly worrying.

“Yet the intimidation of countless people who have dared to speak out about China’s industrial-scale human rights abuses and who do not have the platform of an MP raises serious concerns.

In 2021, China imposed sanctions on five MPs, including Mr Loughton, for spreading what it called “lies and disinformation” about the country.

This was in retaliation for actions taken by the British government following human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Mr Loughton is co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Tibet, which has highlighted China’s record of human rights abuses.

In 2019, he introduced the Reciprocal Access Bill to the House of Commons which requires the UK government to take action against Chinese officials denying access to Tibet.

He is also a leading member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party group working to reform the way democratic countries approach China.