A Chinese-born Australian critic of the Beijing government has been refused entry to China and sent home to Sydney in what he believes was retaliation for his political views.

John Hugh, 51, a former Parramatta city councillor, flew to Shanghai on Tuesday with his mother on a private trip, intending to scatter his father’s ashes.

“When I arrived, when everybody was ready to disembark, there was an announcement, requesting everyone to return to their seats,” Hugh said. “Border security came on board. Then two uniformed officers came straight to me and were requesting me to present my passport and to take my belongings and go with them.

“I knew I must be on their blacklist.”

The two officers escorted him off the plane and, when he asked if he was going to be permitted to enter the country, he said they told him: “No, you are going back to Sydney, next flight.”

He said he was given no reason for the refused entry and was rushed through immigration and passport registration by the same two officers, then put on a plane just 50 minutes later that was returning to Sydney.

“I asked them, ‘What’s the reason?’,” Hugh said. “Their answer was pretty diplomatic, they said, ‘You should know’.”

Hugh’s mother, who was also travelling on an Australian passport, was permitted to stay in Shanghai.

Hugh is the head of the Australian Values Alliance, a loose coalition of Chinese-Australians who promote “democracy and freedom” and are critical of Beijing’s policies. Last week he was prominently involved in the Sydney book launch of Prof Clive Hamilton’s book Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia, which details covert, state-sponsored or co-ordinated operations to exert Chinese Communist party influence in Australia.

“I think that made them very upset,” he said, adding, “I’m not saying you must agree with the book. I’m saying you must read it if you want to criticise it. Make your own judgment after you read it.”



The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.



Hugh’s experience appears to confirm that the Chinese authorities are watching the debate in Australia about Chinese Communist party influence very closely and keeping track of prominent people involved. Hamilton’s book, which has been accused of racism and initially struggled to find a publisher, points out that the Chinese community in Australia are among the main targets of Chinese Communist party surveillance and influence operations.

But the book has helped inflame tensions between Canberra and Beijing. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Canberra said of Silent Invasion earlier this month, “The author of the book has been recklessly playing up ‘China threat’ for quite some time, trying to defame and smear China by all means. His allegations, which are imbued with disinformation and racist bigotry, fully reveal his malicious anti-China mentality.”



Hugh said he has made five or six trips to China since 2000. His last visit, in 2014, was as part of a Parramatta council delegation and also drew the attention of the Chinese authorities when officials requested Hugh be dropped from the group. The council refused and he was “reluctantly” allowed into the country.



Last year another Chinese-born Australian critic of Beijing, Dr Feng Chongyi, was detained in China for questioning for a week.