Now Britain feels the dragon’s roar
Beijing warns there will be ‘consequences’ if UK gives sanctuary to millions after crackdown on protests
BEIJING threatened Britain with ‘consequences’ yesterday over its move to protect Hong Kong residents by offering them a pathway to citizenship.
China said it reserved ‘the right to take corresponding measures’ if Britain pushed ahead with its plan to give up to three million people the right to settle.
The diplomatic firestorm began on Tuesday when China imposed its draconian national security law on Hong Kong, despite warnings of repercussions from the UK. On Wednesday the Prime Minister accused Beijing of a ‘clear and serious breach’ of its treaty obligations by doing so.
He said he would introduce a route for those with British National (Overseas) status to apply for visas to live and work in the UK and apply for citizenship.
In response, the Chinese Embassy in the UK said such a move would be in breach of ‘international law and basic norms governing international relations’. A statement said: ‘ We firmly oppose this and reserve the right to take corresponding measures. We urge the British side to… refrain from interfering in Hong Kong affairs.’
‘The British side will bear all the consequences,’ added foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian.
Downing Street stood firm yesterday. ‘We were very clear in the action we would take if China imposed this law. We will now do exactly what we said we would do,’ the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said. Final details of the scheme for BNO citizens will be set out by the Home Office ‘ in the coming months’, the spokesman added.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was asked on ITV’s Peston if China tried to block people from coming to the UK what would he do. He admitted that ‘there would be little that we could do to force them, to coercively force them’.
On Wednesday, the Foreign Office summoned Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming to a meeting with permanent under-secretary Sir Simon McDonald.
Sir Simon said the imposition of the new security legislation breaches the Sino-British Joint
Declaration agreed when the territory was handed back to China in 1997. The authoritarian laws have faced widespread international condemnation.
Around 370 people were arrested on Wednesday, the 23rd anniversary of the handover. Yesterday police swooped on a Londonbound flight as it sat waiting to take off from Hong Kong. Riot officers boarded the Cathay Pacific flight to arrest a man of 24 on suspicion of having stabbed a police officer in the arm during the previous day’s protests.
The suspect had boarded the flight with no check-in luggage, police said.
■ Former foreign secretary Jack
‘Corresponding measures’
Straw was left embarrassed yesterday after a photo emerged exposing his links to a pro-China lobbying group, the 48 Group Club. A new book alleges the organisation, which lists prominent business and political figures as affiliates, is ‘grooming’ the British elite with Chinese propaganda.
Mr Straw appeared in a 2009 brochure produced by the Club. The Times reported that when previously asked about why he was listed on their website, Mr Straw said he had never heard of the organisation ‘so why I’m on their website, I’ve no idea’.
But when asked about the photo he told the newspaper: ‘I’d completely forgotten about that – it was 13 years ago. At the time there weren’t the same anxieties about the Chinese using economic muscle in a predatory way.’
The book, Hidden Hand, due out here in August, exposes Chinese efforts to influence the West.
The 48 Group Club denies any suggestion it tries to exercise influence on behalf of Beijing.