The United Kingdom recently announced that it will start accepting applications for residence visas from Hong Kong residents with “British National Overseas Passports” (BNO) on January 31 next year, which was denounced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which said that it “will consider not recognizing BN as a valid travel document”; in response to this, the former security chief of Hong Kong, Yip Lau Suk-yee and Lai Tung-kwok both pointed out that there is no real impact on Hong Kong people’s travel abroad, and that it is only a symbolic revenge against the United Kingdom.
The British government announced on January 22 that it will start accepting applications for residence visas from Hong Kong residents with BNO passports from January 31, 2021, for a maximum stay of five years in the United Kingdom, at a fee of 250 pounds per person (about NT$9337), without setting a limit on this application.
After a warning from the Chinese Foreign Office in Hong Kong, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on the 23rd of March that the British side had broken its promise and repeatedly speculated on the British National (Overseas) Passport issue, interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs, “which would only end up smashing its own feet”; he added that China would consider not recognizing the British National (Overseas) Passport as a valid travel document as the British side had broken its promise first, and reserved the right to take further measures.
According to “The Bus” newspaper, the New People’s Party Chairman, Mrs. Regina Ip, who was the former Secretary for Security of Hong Kong, said that the “Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding” in the 1980s mentioned that Chinese compatriots in Hong Kong, regardless of whether they held “British Dependent Territories Citizens passports”, were Chinese nationals, and that even if China did not recognize the BNO, it would not affect the Chinese nationality of the holders.
Even if China does not recognize BNO, it will not affect the BNO holder’s Chinese nationality. Another former Hong Kong security chief, Lai Tung-kwok, pointed out that whether the airline accepts BNO is usually specified by the passenger’s destination, as long as the destination has not stated that it does not accept BNO, theoretically there is no problem; as for Hong Kong people returning to Hong Kong, they only need to show their identity cards, even if China does not recognize BNO passports, the original intention is not to restrict the freedom of entry and exit of Hong Kong people, the Basic Law protects the right to freedom of entry and exit, and should not be linked to the freedom of entry and exit.
In response to the Hong Kong BNO passport may affect the entry into China, Hong Kong writer Tao Jie said, the Chinese government has never allowed Hong Kong people to enter with BNO passports, the SAR passport does not recognize, can only enter with the Home Return Permit, can only assume that “the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the target of the 1.4 billion Chinese people who have little knowledge of the laws of Hong Kong”, in the future, China may be alerted by Li Dongguo and others, ordered the current Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and the Secretary for Security Li Parents to amend Hong Kong’s immigration law.
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