Hong Kongers think of leaving

BEIJING: PLANS TO IMPOSE NATIONAL SECURITY LAW

Many worried what rule may mean for freedoms.

Hong Kong

Shortly before Hong Kong was handed back to China, Simon Ng applied for a British National (Overseas) passport, a document he never thought he’d need.

Now, he is considering whether to use it to emigrate.

China’s plan to impose a sweeping national security law on the city in response to huge pro-democracy protests has Ng mulling the prospect of leaving, the first time he has contemplated such action since Britain returned the former colony in 1997.

“Back then, like many of my peers, I thought China would reform and there was hope,” the 52-year-old assistant professor said. “But now, this is really a dark moment, and the future is quite likely to be even worse.”

BN(O) status was the product of an earlier round of similar fears.

The run up to the 1997 handover was a febrile time.

While Ng was optimistic, many other Hong Kongers are worried about what the rule by authoritarian communist China might mean for the city’s freedoms and thriving capitalist system.

As a result, Britain offered anyone born before handover the option of applying for a BN(O) passport.

The document was of limited value. It gave Hong Kongers access to British consular services overseas and permission to travel to the UK for up to six months at a time, but not to live or work there.

But it was recognition that Britain had some sort of responsibility to the people who were once its subjects.

Now, the usefulness of the document could all change after China last month unveiled plans to enact a law banning acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.

Beijing says the law – which will bypass Hong Kong’s legislature – is needed to tackle “terrorism”, “separatism” and restore confidence in a city rocked by a year of unrest.

But critics fear it will bring mainland-style political oppression to a business hub supposedly guaranteed freedoms and autonomy for 50 years after its handover.

Britain views the law as a breach of that handover deal and in response has said it will look into extending the immigration rights of those with BN(O) status, including a possible “path to citizenship”.

There are currently about 350 000 BN(O) passport holders – a figure that nearly doubled in the past 12 months as the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters raged. –