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On Friday, Beijing retaliated against the U.K. for opening up a path to citizenship for potentially millions of Hong Kong citizens by declaring that it would no longer recognize the British National Overseas (BNO) passport granted by the U.K. to certain Hong Kong citizens.
“The U.K. is trying to turn large numbers of Hong Kong residents into second-class U.K. citizens,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said at a press briefing on Friday. “[The U.K.] has already completely changed the nature of the BNO,” Zhao added.
The BNO passport is a product of the U.K.’s colonial legacy in Hong Kong and provides Hong Kong citizens born before 1997—the year the U.K. ceded control of Hong Kong to Beijing—the right to freely travel, study, and work in the U.K. and other select countries.
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Zhao objected to the U.K.’s plans to formalize a major change for BNO passport holders that will give Hong Kong citizens the right to apply for British citizenship after living in the U.K. for five years. The change goes into effect on Sunday.
“I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BNOs to live, work, and make their home in our country,” U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement on Thursday.
The U.K. first introduced the change to its BNO program in July 2020 in the wake of Beijing introducing a new national security law in Hong Kong. Beijing said the law was necessary to restore order in a city that had been ravaged by protests for more than a year. The U.K., U.S., and other Western powers denounced the law as cracking down on free speech and other political freedoms in the city.
“China’s imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong constitutes a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, contrary to international law,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement Thursday, referring to the U.K. and Beijing’s 1997 agreement that guaranteed certain freedoms to citizens of Hong Kong.
The consequences of Beijing’s decision not to recognize the BNO passport are unclear. For now, Hong Kong citizens are required to show their Hong Kong ID cards only when they leave or enter Hong Kong. To travel to mainland China, Hong Kong citizens need their Hong Kong ID cards and a cross-border permit—but not a passport. Additionally, many Hong Kong citizens who have BNO passports also hold Hong Kong passports.
Chinese officials had previously warned that any Hong Kong citizen with a BNO passport would not be able to travel to the mainland. But it is unclear if or how Beijing would know who holds a BNO passport since they are issued by the U.K. government.
In the U.K. on Thursday, Johnson said he expected about 300,000 Hong Kong citizens—out of the over 3 million who are eligible—to immigrate to the U.K. as part of the BNO passport program.
His government said that the visa pathway would provide Hong Kong citizens more freedom than they would have in their home city.
“This new visa delivers on our promise to the people of Hong Kong, honoring our strong historic relationship and upholding their freedoms,” the U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel said Thursday.
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