What harm does the British government do to Hong Kong by allowing Hong Kong BNO passport holders to obtain British citizenship?

What will happen if China no longer recognizes BNO passports? Licensed Hong Kong people cannot get assistance outside Hong Kong.

65438 1 29, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao said at a press conference that China no longer recognizes the British National (Overseas) passport (BNO passport) as a travel document and identification from1and reserves the right to take further measures.

BNO passport

This is not the first time that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed its position on the BNO issue. In fact, as early as July 23rd last year and February 4th 12, Foreign Ministry spokespersons Wang Wenbin and Hua Chunying respectively stated that the British side had explicitly promised not to grant Hong Kong and Chinese citizens with BNO passports the right of abode in the UK. However, regardless of China's solemn representations, the British side insisted on providing a path for the relevant personnel to stay in the UK for naturalization, which blatantly violated its commitments and violated international law and the basic norms of international relations. China will consider not recognizing BNO as a valid travel document.

What is the so-called British National Overseas Passport, namely BNO Passport? What does it mean for Hong Kong people that China no longer recognizes it?

The origin of BNO:

Originated from the empire's last thoughts on colonies.

198 1 year, Britain passed the British Nationality Act 198 1, which reclassified British and colonial citizens into three categories: British citizens, British dependent territory citizens and British overseas citizens. Therefore, people born in Hong Kong are British Dependent Territories Citizens and hold British Dependent Territories Citizen passports.

From 65438 to 0982, China and Britain formally started negotiations on handling the Hong Kong issue. One of the most difficult issues is the nationality of Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizens after they cease to be Hong Kong British Dependent Territories. During the negotiations, China made it clear that it would not accept Hong Kong citizens to retain their British Dependent Territories citizenship after the reunification, because it was against China's national sovereignty.

Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, attended the handover ceremony in Hong Kong.

China and Britain signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration on 1984 19 February 19, which formally clarified the relevant matters concerning the return of Hong Kong. The colonial government also announced in 1985 17 that after Hong Kong officially returned to People's Republic of China (PRC), it would all be signed by the colonial government.

The BN (O) passport, which was officially refused by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a new British nationality formulated by Britain through the Hong Kong Act 1985. It is specially designed for British Dependent Territories citizens in Hong Kong to apply before the reunification, with the aim of "letting Hong Kong people choose to keep in touch with Britain". BNO passport holders are regarded as British overseas citizens and have British nationality by Britain, but Britain promises that BNO passport holders do not have the right of abode.

From the beginning, Britain did not intend to accept a large number of Hong Kong people flooding into Britain. At that time, the Thatcher government made it clear that Britain was unable and unwilling to bear such pressure, and said that it did not think that a large number of Hong Kong people would really leave Hong Kong. According to the general cognition of British society at that time that "Britain owes nothing to Hong Kong", BNO passport can only be regarded as the last gift left by the empire to the colony, and it has no practical benefits.

The essence of BNO:

A long-term tourist visa that allows entry and stay for 6 months.

According to the British government's estimation, about 5.4 million Hong Kong people are currently eligible to apply for BNO passports, including 2.9 million Hong Kong people with BNO status and 2.3 million relatives.

Dominic Rab, the British Foreign Secretary, has publicly stated in the British Parliament that accepting Hong Kong immigrants can bring huge financial benefits to Britain, which has been severely hit by Britain's withdrawal from the EU and the COVID-19 epidemic. At the same time, it is expected that most Hong Kong people who are eligible to apply for BNO passports will choose to stay in Hong Kong, and the government need not worry about the impact of accepting too many immigrants on Britain.

That's a beautiful idea.

Throughout history, we know that the threshold of British citizenship has never been easily crossed by non-white immigrants.

In fact, there was a time in history when people born in British territory (including colonies) were regarded as British citizens and enjoyed equal rights. This kind of nationality certification did not have much influence on Britain when most people stayed in the colonies. But around 1950, with the decline of the British Empire and the ebb of colonialism, a large number of non-whites from African and Asian colonies began to immigrate to Britain to work. Britain, unwilling to accept a large number of immigrants, soon promulgated the Commonwealth Immigration Act 1962, which restricted colonists from going to Britain unless they were born in Britain or Ireland. Nine years later, this restriction was slightly relaxed, allowing colonists whose grandparents were born in the British Isles to immigrate to the British mainland. In other words, Britain's judgment of its citizenship depends on whether you are at least partially white.

These two bills describe this restriction as that "people with close ties to Britain" can have the right of abode in Britain, but in fact it is discriminatory to accept only white immigrants and exclude colonial people of other races.

Let's look back at the BNO passport regulations. It is not difficult to see that this passport is basically equivalent to a long-term tourist visa that allows the holder to enter the country and stay for six months. It has not promised the holder any basic civil rights and interests, which is consistent with Britain's consistent attitude of "excluding non-white immigrants".

1967, a Hong Kong resident confronted a white policeman.

What will happen if China no longer recognizes BNO passports?

-If there is an accident abroad, you will not be able to get assistance.

Since BNO is expressly designed as "only used as an entry and exit document", why has it become a "naturalization method in Britain" that provokes the nerves of both China and Britain?

On July 22nd, 2020, Rab claimed that the implementation of the National Security Law by the China government in Hong Kong violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced that from 20021131,Britain would create a "customized immigration route" for Hong Kong people holding BNO, and extend the allowed stay period from six months to five years.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rab

Although Rab's speech in Congress admitted in disguise that the new policy of "5+ 1" was only for "making a statement", this policy obviously violated the British government's commitment to the China government when Hong Kong returned to China, and changed the nature of BNO passport "no right of abode" stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Therefore, Zhao announced on October 29th, 65438+ year/KLOC-0 that China would no longer recognize so-called passports as travel documents and identification documents, and reserved the right to take further measures. Later that day, the Hong Kong SAR Government also announced that BNO passports would no longer be allowed to be used for entry and exit in Hong Kong or as any form of identification. Passengers flying to Hong Kong must show their Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports or Hong Kong permanent identity cards.

China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian

This means that if Hong Kong people enter a foreign country with BNO passports, their documents will not be recognized by the local consulate in China, and they will not be able to get assistance in case of accidents. This happened in April last year, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Peru announced the national closure, and a group of Hong Kong people stayed in Peru. At that time, the Hong Kong SAR Government sent a special plane to take Hong Kong people home. Eight Hong Kong people with BNO passports were unable to get approval from the local British Embassy, but they failed to go home and had to stay in the local area.

At the same time, the scope of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "reserves the right to take further measures" is very wide, and further countermeasures are not excluded.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement last year: "This new British measure has fulfilled our profound history and friendship with Hong Kong." Ironically, by "profound history and friendship", he means that during the British rule, Hong Kong compatriots never enjoyed the same treatment and rights as British citizens, and were always regarded as "second-class citizens" and "inferior people" because of the color of the yellow race.

Johnson may have forgotten that 1 July 19971day, the colonial rule of the British Empire officially ended, and it lost the right to give orders to other countries' territories.