Jul 12, 2020

Hong Kong security law: Why we are taking our BNOs and leaving

The UK now wants to offer BNO passport holders citizenship rights after six years of stay, arguing that China has breached the Sino-British Joint Declaration by enacting the national security law, which violates the city's high degree of autonomy and infringes the civil liberties of Hong Kong residents. "A lot of them returned to Hong Kong either before 1997 or after 1997, when they had seized their safety outlets when they had got their foreign passports, when they saw that the political nightmare had not occurred as predicted," said Professor Ming Sing, who teaches politics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "A lot of them see that the legislation of the national security law which has been imposed from the top is not only draconian in nature, but it also reflects Beijing reneging on its promise. Not only its failure to protect Hong Kong's freedoms under the Joint Declaration and under the Basic Law," he said, adding that he thinks more young people, many of them are protesters, will exit Hong Kong. In an earlier interview with ITV, Mr Raab said there is little the UK could do if China doesn't allow Hong Kong residents to come to the UK. "It is hard to predict what consequences Beijing has in mind. Probably more diplomatic ones in the form of a counter-measure, which does not necessarily need to be in the same form but should not be disproportionate," said Simon Young, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong. "My son says he doesn't want to leave Hong Kong, because he thinks Hong Kong belongs to him," Serena said.

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