The Beijing authorities announced on Friday, January 29, 2021 that China will no longer recognize the special overseas passports (BNO) granted to Hong Kong people by the United Kingdom as of January 31. So, will this punishment have any adverse consequences for Hong Kong people?
AFP said it is unclear what practical consequences Beijing will have for Hong Kong people holding such passports when it no longer recognizes their British overseas passports. It could mean that Hong Kong people holding this special overseas passport, the BNO, would no longer be able to enter mainland China. But Chinese authorities do not necessarily know who carries such a passport. Hong Kong citizens can only use their Hong Kong passports when traveling to mainland China. There is no reason for them to use a British Overseas BNO passport, except to enter the UK or other countries that recognize such travel documents.
However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao added at a press conference today, 29, that Beijing “reserves the right to take further measures.” He also denounced the British move as “turning a large number of Hong Kong residents into second-class British citizens”.
London announced on Jan. 28 that an extended overseas passport (five years) for Hong Kong residents would take effect on Jan. 31. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said today that China will no longer recognize the so-called British Overseas Passport as a travel or identity document from January 31.
British Prime Minister Johnson said in a statement on 28 January that “I am immensely proud that we (the UK) are offering a new way for Hong Kong BNO holders to live, work and settle in our country,” according to a Friday report by RFE/RL correspondent Yan Shuji Johnson in Hong Kong. And we value the deep historical ties and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we defend freedom and autonomy, values that both Britain and Hong Kong value.”
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the National Security Law enacted by Beijing authorities for Hong Kong as “a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that dominated the handover of Hong Kong.”
London has counted some 350,000 Hong Kong people holding the British Overseas Passport BNO, which is also available to 2.9 million people born in Hong Kong before the handover in 1997. Britain wants Hong Kong people holding this passport to become British citizens after five years.
According to the British Home Office, 7,000 BNO passport holders have arrived in Britain between July and mid-January as a result of the special procedures adopted. London estimates that the new system could attract up to 322,400 Hong Kong people in five years.
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