Pathway to citizenship for 2.9 million Hong Kongers as China makes first arrests

A “unique” and “bespoke” pathway to British citizenship will be offered to 2.9 million British Nationals Overseas in Hong Kong, the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, announced today. The announcement, honouring previous pledges made by the Foreign Secretary on June 2, comes as the Chinese government at last imposes a long-anticipated national security law on the city.

In a ministerial statement to the House of Commons the Foreign Secretary criticised Beijing’s new national security law as a “clear and serious breach” of China’s international obligations.

The new law would impose new draconian measures on the special administrative region of Hong Kong. Raab said that this was in violation of the conditions set out in the Sino-British joint declaration agreed between London and Beijing in 1984, by which Britain agreed to return the country to Chinese rule in 1997. Furthermore, it also contradicts sections of the city’s Basic Law, the mini-constitution provided by the Chinese authorities for the government of Hong Kong.

Under these arrangements, Hong Kong was supposed maintain a special status until 2050. The Chinese authorities were expected to uphold Hong Kong’s independent legal system and civic freedoms, even as the area was absorbed into China’s administrative control. And the Basic Law stipulates that national security legislation for Hong Kong should be passed by its own legislature.

Critics now fear that Beijing’s encroachment marks the end of this “one country, two systems” settlement. The move resonates particularly strongly as it falls on the symbolic day of July 1, 2020, marking 23 years since the administration of Hong Kong was handed over to China.

Raab said: “These measures represent a flagrant assault on freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful protest for the people of Hong Kong.”

“China has broken its promise to the people of Hong Kong under its own laws”, he explained, as well as its international agreements with the UK and the United Nations international covenant on civil and political rights.

Nevertheless, the UK will “keep its word”, upholding its own commitments to Hong Kong, the Foreign Secretary added.

The government will now be offering those in the city with British National Overseas (BNO) status, along with their families and dependents, the opportunity to come to Britain for five years’ limited leave to remain for work or study.

After this five year period, BNOs will be able to apply for settled status in the United Kingdom. After twelve months under this settled status they will then be able to apply for citizenship.

The Foreign Secretary assured the House that there would be no quotas on numbers arriving under the bespoke scheme. There are an estimated 2.9 million people in Hong Kong with BNO status, according to the British consulate in the island city.

The issue of Hong Kong has now become a bipartisan rallying point in British politics. Responding to Raab’s statement the shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, said that China’s new law “will have a chilling effect on democracy” in Hong Kong. She called on Raab and the government to move quickly to develop a coherent strategy “at home and abroad” in a sweeping reorientation of Britain’s relations with China.

Nandy urged for the UK to lead the international effort to impose sanctions on members of the Chinese Communist Party in retaliation for China’s actions. She called upon the government to introduce far stricter screening measures for Chinese companies seeking to do business in the UK.

Nandy went on to ask the Foreign Secretary to review the position of British judges in Hong Kong, who currently play a role in upholding the region’s common law legal system. Baroness Hale, the former UK Supreme Court judge, recently sat on the Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, the city’s highest court.

Beijing’s national security law outlines a series of offences which will be punished by the authorities. These vaguely-defined offences include “secession”, “subversion”, “terrorist activities”, and “collusion” with foreign countries or any “external elements to endanger national security”.

In order to implement these new stipulations, the People’s Republic of China is instituting a new Office for Safeguarding National Security, which will be administrated by and answerable to the mainland’s authorities. Cases relevant to national security can now be tried in the courts of the mainland, rather than in Hong Kong’s own judicial system.

The enforcement of national security laws will be brought under the jurisdiction of Hong Kong’s chief executive and judges appointed by Beijing will decide in some cases concerning national security. Certain trials will also be held without a jury and without press coverage.

A translation of the full national security law can be read in English here.

International observers have been alarmed by the law’s extraterritorial nature. The law states that it applies not only within the administrative region of Hong Kong but also covers any offence committed “outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region.”

The first arrests under the new system were made today. Nine people were detained after being accused of violating national security, including a man waving a pro-independence flag.