It looks like China [the Chinese Communist government] is applying its Citizenship Law to Hong Kong and forcing people to declare who they are,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China. . Pictured are peaceful protesters in Hong Kong.
The Canadian government is concerned about the human rights of 300,000 people living in Hong Kong who have dual Canadian-Hong Kong citizenship, as the Hong Kong SAR government has said that dual residents in Hong Kong must declare which citizenship they wish to retain.
According to the National Post, John Babcock, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, said the Canadian government is aware that the Hong Kong government is asking dual nationals to indicate which nationality they want to keep. “It is our understanding that the policy currently affects mainly dual nationals who are serving sentences in Hong Kong. Canada has expressed concern to the Hong Kong government that this change may result in Canada being unable to provide consular services.”
Former Canadian Ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques said, “This is another important development and it looks like China [the Chinese Communist government] is applying its Citizenship Act to Hong Kong and forcing people to declare who they are.”
“It’s something that has to be looked at.” He said that under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, if you enter a country using a travel document from one country, you cannot claim to be a citizen of another country. The type of documents these dual nationals use to enter Hong Kong may affect their ability to claim Canadian citizenship.
Babcock said the Canadian Consulate General in Hong Kong is seeking more information from local authorities about the potential impact of this latest change.
Choices that affect lives
Mainland China’s Nationality Law does not recognize dual citizenship and considers Hong Kong residents of Chinese descent to be Chinese citizens. If the Hong Kong government implements what it says is a new policy, local residents who wish to retain their Canadian citizenship will not be considered Chinese citizens, which could affect their right of abode in Hong Kong and the associated rights that come with it.
On the other hand, as Ms. Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior researcher at the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Science, Society and Policy, said, the consequences of losing Canadian citizenship for those with lawsuits in Hong Kong are enormous, and they could be prevented from leaving the city in addition to losing consular services.
She said the experience of dual nationals in mainland China could provide a lesson. In the past 2 years, three Canadian citizens born in China have been sentenced to death for drug offences and are largely unknown to Canadians. “It is highly likely that the Chinese Communist government instructed the families and embassies not to release their names because Canadian citizenship was not recognized. The prisoners themselves may have renounced it (Canadian citizenship) under duress.”
A lesson from the past
Sun Qian, a Canadian citizen, is an example of a woman who was illegally sentenced to eight years in prison in China for practicing Falun Gong. News reports say she renounced her Canadian citizenship while in prison, but former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said she should still be considered a Canadian because the Chinese Communist authorities created a false confession.
Hong Kong’s implementation of the “National Security Law” has led to unrest there. After the U.K. decided to let British Overseas Nationals (BNOs) apply for British citizenship, China began sending signals of retaliation, including revoking the right of abode in Hong Kong.
The former head of security for the Hong Kong government, Regina Ip, recently said that Beijing should stop giving special treatment to Hong Kong people and enforce China’s Nationality Law in Hong Kong.
The sheer number of Canadian citizens living in Hong Kong has made Canada one of the centers of this nationality debate.
Canada may be preparing a plan to evacuate
Canada has accepted a number of asylum seekers from Hong Kong since the implementation of the “national security law” in Hong Kong and the arrest and sentencing of many local pro-democracy supporters. The Chinese government’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, has threatened Canada that accepting “violent criminals” could jeopardize the “health and safety” of the 300,000 Canadian citizens in Hong Kong.
So far, however, these Canadians in Hong Kong are still free to leave.
According to the January issue of Canada’s Immigration Compilation, government documents show that the Canadian government is concerned that after the implementation of the “Hong Kong version of the National Security Act”, Hong Kong residents with dual citizenship may be arbitrarily detained under the new law and may be extradited to mainland China. Therefore, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been working with Global Affairs Canada to develop a contingency plan for the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Hong Kong. However, no specific plans have been disclosed so far.
According to the National Post, Avvy Go, director of the Chinese Vietnamese and Cambodian Legal Aid Centre in Toronto, said the Chinese have a pattern of not recognizing foreign nationals, “especially when it suits their purposes.
She said that in case the Chinese impose exit controls, “Canada should have an evacuation plan.
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