HONG KONG CRISIS: 3m offered refuge in UK
BORIS Johnson is pledging to let up to three million Hong Kong citizens live and work in the UK as China enforces its authoritarian security clampdown.
The Prime Minister lashed out as clashes broke out in the former British territory over communist China’s new powers to punish political dissent.
Mr Johnson said Hong Kong’s freedoms were being violated and its 350,000 UK passport holders, as well as 2.6 million people with British National Overseas (BNO) status, will be offered an escape route out.
Representing just under half of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population, they will be allowed to live in Britain for five years.After a further year they can apply for British citizenship.
Britain had warned China to “step back from the brink” over the changes. Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984, 13 years before Britain officially handed back the territory, Hong Kong has a level of autonomy for at least 50 years via the “one party, two systems” plan.
But China rammed its new law through parliament and kept the wording secret until Tuesday night, when it unveiled repressive measures against protesters.
Vandalism against government buildings or public transport can now be treated as subversion or terrorism with life sentences for rule-breakers.
And China’s feared security agencies will openly set up shop in Hong Kong for the first time. Human rights groups say the law has “frightening loopholes” that could let Beijing round up protesters and extradite them to China.
Yesterday a man with a “Hong Kong Independence” flag was the first to be arrested – 23 years to the day since Britain returned the former colony to Chinese rule.
Pepper spray and water cannons were also used against protesters.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Johnson said: “The enactment of an imposition of this national security law constitutes a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British declaration.
“We made clear that if China continued down this path we would introduce a new route for those with BNO status to enter the UK, granting them limited leave to remain with the ability to live and work in the UK and thereafter to apply for citizenship, and that is precisely what we will do now.”
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told MPs: “We will live up to our responsibilities to the people of Hong Kong, and I can tell the House that after further detailed discussions with the Home Secretary, I can now confirm we will proceed to honour our commitment to change the arrangements for those holding BNO status.”
Currently they are only entitled to visa-free access to the UK for six months.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of MigrationWatch pressure group, warned that the plan was “a potential disaster for immigration control”.