UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that if China proceeds with its national security law the UK will make a change to its immigration rules, extending visa rights for millions of Hongkongers.
Writing in The Times of London on Wednesday, he said that people who hold a British National Overseas (BNO) passport in Hong Kong will be able to come to the UK without a visa for 12 months, and will have the right to work.
Anyone born before 1997 in Hong Kong is eligible for a BNO passport. About 350,000 Hongkongers already have a BNO passport, and a further 2.6 million are eligible for one.
He said Britain would have “no choice but to uphold our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong.”
He warned: “If China proceeds, this would be in direct conflict with its obligations under the joint declaration, a legally binding treaty registered with the United Nations. Britain would then have no choice but to uphold our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong.”
He said it “would amount to one of the biggest changes in our visa system in history.”
Global response
As Beijing increasingly draws Hong Kong into its orbit, there’s more pressure on the UK and the world to act.
Johnson’s article in The Times of London follows a letter from seven former UK foreign secretaries, urging him to take the lead in the global response. They called for an international contact group, similar to the one created in the early 1990s for the former Yugoslavia.
The last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, led an effort of what’s now 787 politicians and policymakers in 38 countries who called out Beijing’s move, describing it as a “flagrant breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.”
“I welcome what the government has said about passports, but there is a lot more to do to demonstrate our legal and moral obligations, to what was of course a British colonial territory,” Patten said during a Tuesday House of Lords debate.
‘A Duty’
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in Parliament on Tuesday that Britain has “a duty” to the people of Hong Kong.
“I hope that the whole House agrees that we as the United Kingdom, have historic responsibilities, a duty, I would say, to the people of Hong Kong,” Raab said.
He added, “I sincerely hope China will reconsider its approach, but if not the UK will not just look the other way when it comes to the people of Hong Kong, we will stand by them and live up to our responsibilities.”
Raab said the government wants to build an international alliance of countries that goes “beyond the usual suspects” to put pressure on Beijing to step back.
Conservative lawmaker Kevin Hollinrake told NTD that, “Every democratic nation will see this as a huge step backwards.”
“I think it’s very important now that all democratic states, who are critical of these actions stand together, to put pressure on China to back off,” Hollinrake said.
The new law is a blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms, and an increasing number of politicians are pushing for a global response.
