Hu Jia
McMillan-Scott is one of the foremost campaigners for reform in China. After his last visit to Beijing, in May 2006, all the dissidents and former prisoners-of-conscience with whom he had contact were arrested, imprisoned and in some cases tortured. These included the Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng and environmental activist Hu Jia. McMillan-Scott successfully nominated Hu Jia for the 2008 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression, awarded annually by the European Parliament. He has sponsored numerous activities, hearings and resolutions focussed on reform in China. In November 2010 he met the dissident artist Ai Weiwei, co-designer of Beijing's Birds Nest stadium, who made a highly-critical series of comments for McMillan-Scott's YouTube channel. Ai Weiwei later spent some months under house arrest in Beijing.