BEIJING (AP) – China said on Friday that it would no longer recognize the British National Overseas passport as a valid travel document or form of identification amid a bitter dispute with London over a plan to get millions of Hong Kong residents off the road to residence and eventual citizenship. .
The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has raised some uncertainties surrounding the plan, hours after the UK said it would start accepting applications for so-called BNO visas late Sunday.
Under the plan, as many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible to live and work in the UK for five years, and then apply for citizenship. Demand has risen after Beijing introduced a new national security law on the former British colony last year after months of pro-democracy protests.
“The attempt by the British side to turn a large number of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens has completely changed the nature of the two parties’ original understanding of GNP,” Zhao told reporters during a daily briefing.
“This move seriously infringes on China’s sovereignty, seriously undermines Hong Kong’s affairs and China’s internal affairs, and seriously violates international law and the basic norms of international relations,” he said. “China will no longer recognize the so-called BNO passport as a travel document and proof of identity from 31 January, and reserves the right to take further action.”
Many Hong Kongers have multiple passports and it is unclear what the Chinese government could do to prevent people from entering the UK through the BNO visa plan. As a further protection of personal privacy, a mobile app will allow applicants to download their biometric information without being seen at the UK Visa Office.
The BNO passport was originally a disappointment to Hong Kongers when it was first offered before the handover of Hong Kong to the Chinese government in 1997. At the time, it only offered the right to visit for six months without having the right to to work or become a full-fledged citizen. . Applicants had to be born before the submission date.
However, pressure has increased to extend such privileges as China increasingly undermines civil and political life in Hong Kong, according to critics, which violates China’s commitment to maintaining the city’s separate lifestyle for 50 years after the handover. China declared the Sino-British Declaration of 1984, which set out the handover arrangements, invalid despite its recognition by the United Nations, and imposed national security law in the area after the city’s legislature failed to pass.
“I am extremely proud to have brought this new route for BNOs from Hong Kong to live, work and make their home in our country,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement.
“In doing so, we have honored our deep ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy – values of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong are very valuable.”