China is being roundly mocked over its decision to sanction the children of lawmakers who have spoken out over its aggression towards Taiwan and human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Five British politicians and their families were hit with Chinese sanctions last year, which bars them from visiting Hong Kong, Macau, and the mainland.

Dozens of European parliament MEPs have since been added to the Chinese sanctions list, along with US senators and members of the Taiwanese legislature.

The joke doing the rounds at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) summit at the senate in Washington DC last week was that if you hadn’t been sanctioned you couldn’t get in – such is the frequency with which the sanctions are being meted out by China and also Russia.

David Alton, Lord Alton of Liverpool, an independent crossbencher, and one of the founders of IPAC, along with Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Baroness Helena Kennedy, told National Security News that all four of his children have been subjected to Chinese sanctions, which includes banning them from any involvement in China-related businesses, or property under its territories.

“We have been told that we can be red listed and extradited. Of course, we are banned from visiting Hong Kong, Macau, the mainland, and also places where China is exerting particular kinds of influence,” he said. “Our families are also sanctioned as well, which they know is a shocking thing to do. Your children should not be held to account for your speaking out over what is happening in Xinjiang or in Hong Kong.”

His children have, however, seen the humour of the situation, according to Alton.

“My wonderful children have got a WhatsApp group entitled ‘badge of honour’ as a consequence,” he laughed, adding: “If this was an attempt to silence Iain and myself then they obviously don’t know much about him or me. Or Helena Kennedy. It has had exactly the opposite effect and is counterproductive.

“And of course, one of the things that we take very seriously, and it has emerged in these arguments about the invitation to the Chinese to see the Queen lying in state at the Palace of Westminster, is that Westminster stands for free speech. It is the mother of parliaments. If we don’t uphold democratic values, if we capitulate to either attempts to blackmail us, or intimidate us, then I think we would be playing right into their hands.”

Olek Merezhko, chair of the Ukraine Foreign Affairs Committee, and now co-chairing IPAC, said China’s sanctions list was for comedic effect only surpassed by the Russian ones.

He said: “I am sanctioned by Russia at the moment, but I am also ready to be sanctioned by China. I am not afraid of it.

“I know that I definitely I cannot do business with Russia. I cannot have property or assets in Russian banks, and as for going to Russia I cannot enter Russian territory. Why I would want to enter Russian territory seems not to have been considered.”

He added: “I never had, and I don’t have any plans to have business in China – so it will be a little ridiculous to find myself on it. But that is the same for most people, which is why it’s so ineffective.

“One of my British colleagues, Tom Tugendhat, is also on the sanctions from both China and Russia. It’s normal. Nowadays it’s normal.

“We Ukrainians are stubborn people and the more pressure is put on the more counter action follows.”

Taiwan MP Claire Wang, who was also at the IPAC summit in DC, said most of her party had been put on the Chinese sanctions list for speaking out about human rights. The only inconvenience was when it came to changing planes, but the huge positive they took from this was that they had China worried.

“We are also on the sanctions list, especially if you are in a party focused on human rights. You cannot visit China or Hong Kong. Right now we cannot even transfer in Hong Kong Airport. We used to be able to transfer via Hong Kong to go the U.S. or Europe, so right now we have to look at other ways,” she said.

“But that may not be a bad thing, because it means that China thinks we are getting stronger, so is taking action to prevent Taiwanese. So that means Taiwan should be stronger and we will be stronger.”

Perhaps the most amusing response to being targeted by China comes from Sir Iain Duncan Smith: “I was sanctioned ages ago,” he said. “They really don’t like me. I keep being attacked by the UK embassy for, what was it, an untruth teller or something like that. They are always hacking my pager and things like that. I always welcome them in the morning by speaking into my telephone and saying ‘Good morning to you. I haven’t got anything interesting for you today. Take a day off.’”

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    National Security News (NSN) welcomes the appointment of Dennis Rice, former Chief Reporter of the Daily Express and Investigations Editor of the Mail on Sunday, as its Launch Editor. He brings with him three decades of experience covering national and international news, which has also included a stint working as a producer at Channel 4 Dispatches. Commenting on his new role, Dennis said: “NSN is a digital platform which exists purely to break stories and uncover new twists and exclusives around existing ones. Whether it’s reporting on the cloak and dagger world of espionage, cyber terrorism, subversion, or intelligence we are very much looking forward to giving the existing media a run for its money.” Dennis Rice is a veteran investigative journalist who has finished as a runner up in Journalist of the Year category at the British Press Awards. He also worked as Investigations Editor of the Mail on Sunday, Chief Reporter of the Daily Express, and as a senior journalist at the Sunday Mirror and the News of the World. His Dispatches credits include working as a producer on How To Stop Your Nuisance Calls (an expose on charity fundraisers) and Murder in the Sky: Flight MH17 (reporting on the crash of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, shot down over the eastern Ukraine). While at the Mail on Sunday he wrote a series of articles which resulted in the resignation of BP Chief Lord Browne, and earlier David Blunkett as the then Work and Pensions Secretary. In 2011 he was paid damages at the High Court after his former employer the News of the World admitted hacking his phone.