The British government expects a large number of Hong Kong people to leave Hong Kong in the next five years, with wholesale BNOs hitting a record high in a single month.

Bloomberg reports that the United Kingdom is speeding up the process of verifying special visas for Hong Kong residents in response to a possible “wave of departures” of Hong Kong people as China tightens its grip on the territory. The British Passport Office said that in October this year alone, the number of “British National (Overseas) Passport” (BNO) passports verified and granted increased by 52% over the same period last year.

According to data provided by the British Passport Office under the Freedom of Information Act, from January to October 2020, some 216,398 Hong Kong residents were issued BNOs, more than in any year since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain to China in 1997. In October this year, the British Passport Office issued 59,798 passports to Hong Kongers, the highest monthly figure since the Passport Office began compiling the data in 2015. Bloomberg describes this as the equivalent of more than five passports issued every minute, based on an average working day of eight hours.

The Bloomberg report refers to British government research showing that an estimated 2.9 million Hong Kong people are eligible for British National Overseas Passports (BNOPs), and that up to 2.3 million of these Hong Kong people have family members who are eligible for passports.

The new figures, approved by the UK Passport Office, include new passport renewals. The trend in the increase in the numbers shows that after the Hong Kong government implemented the National Security Law this year, many Hong Kong people applied for BNOs, presumably because of the suppression of freedom in Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong government, there will be a large number of Hong Kong people leaving the country.

In a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying accused the UK of violating its commitments and “repeatedly speculating on the issue of overseas passports for British nationals. She added that China would also consider not recognizing the BNO as a valid travel document.