Britain to offer 3 million Hong Kongers full British citizenship

[-:Undertaker:-]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52900700

Britain to offer Hong Kongers citizenship

Remarkable offer comes which would mean up to 3 million Hong Kongers becoming full British subjects


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Recent protests in Hong Kong have seen the old colonial flag of Hong Kong being waved to defy China


Britain will change its immigration rules and offer millions of people in Hong Kong "a route to citizenship" if China imposes new security laws, Boris Johnson has said.

Writing in the Times, Mr Johnson said the UK would "have no choice" but to uphold its ties with the territory which was a British colony from 1841 until 1997 when it was handed over to the People's Republic of China.

China is facing mounting criticism over its planned law.

Many people in Hong Kong fear it could end their unique freedoms, which the rest of China does not have.

The UK is already in talks with allies including the US and Australia about what to do if China imposes the new law - which would make it a crime to undermine Beijing's authority - and people start fleeing Hong Kong.

In the Times on Wednesday, the prime minister confirmed that if China passes the law, people in Hong Kong who hold British National (Overseas) (BNO) passports will be allowed to come to the UK for 12 months without a visa. Currently they are allowed to come for six months.

Around 350,000 people in Hong Kong currently already have a BNO passport, but 2.6 million others are also eligible.

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Exactly what I have argued should have happened a long time ago.

Hong Kongers are culturally British, educated, wealthy and I would welcome them coming to the motherland. They never wanted to leave British sovereignty, and doing this would correct the wrongs of the past when we shamelessly handed the entire colony over to China.

Great move by the government if China presses ahead, which it is doing.

Thoughts?

[Zak]

What sort of impact would this have on our already strained relationship with China?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well China has passed the law and now a crackdown has begun. Hong Kongers can now be arrested for criticising the creeps in the Communist Party, waving British colonial flags or even protesting freedom of speech. Once a beacon of capitalism, freedom and western values in Asia now reduced to another dull Chinese city where people are carted off for criticising the waxworks that run China.


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Britain in response has announced the plans for former British Hong Kongers to be given citizenship will now go ahead.



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I welcome the Hong Kongers here. Evidently already more pro-British than half the Labour Party.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Where are the virtue signalling footballers and celebrities kneeling for this, an actual and real issue where people are regularly "disappearing"?

[dbgtz]

i dont really see how is integration supposed to meaningfully take place? also nto really sure how is housing supply supposed to keep up with such a drastic increase in demand and how are public services supposed to absorb such a strain on services and why should they?


how is the quality of life for a small island of 70m and rapidly rising supposed to cope with this in terms of infrastructure?

[-:Undertaker:-]

We're starting to see an emergence of a powerful foreign policy bloc of Britain, America, Australia, Canada and (sometimes) New Zealand.

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i dont really see how is integration supposed to meaningfully take place?

The people of Hong Kong are in many ways culturally British and identify as so, from the common law legal system that Hong Kong has retained to the 53%+ who can speak English proficiently, the high amount of Protestants (and even Catholics) there and western (British values) such as trial by jury, freedom of speech, a free press, free markets, an unarmed Police force and loyalty to British institutions such as the monarchy and the very flag they identify with and love.

Hong Kong was British from 1841 to 1997, a total of 156 years. The British built Hong Kong entirely, and even in 1997 the people there did not want to be parted from their colonial master and thrust into the arms of the Chinese Communist Party. We owe them for our betrayal in 1997, and their loyalty.


also nto really sure how is housing supply supposed to keep up with such a drastic increase in demand

The average income per capita in Hong Kong is £54,387 per year, against £15,891 per year for Poland. Britain is at £34,490 per year for comparison.

Whilst demand will rise, the money is there for them to buy houses/apartments outright and even build them themselves.


and how are public services supposed to absorb such a strain on services and why should they?

There will be an initial shock to public services, without a doubt. However, given the HDI ranking of Hong Kong (4th in the world) compared to Poland (32nd) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index#Count ries - I am certain they will more than pay their way.


how is the quality of life for a small island of 70m and rapidly rising supposed to cope with this in terms of infrastructure?

I think our quality of life will be much enhanced by their arrival going by all indicators.

Much like the exceptional circumstance of the Ugandan Asians in 1972, it is sometimes right that the Empire comes home.

[dbgtz]

just so im clear
an instant arrival of 3m+ unemployed (eu citizens were not allowed to remain indefinitely without employment or the ability to support themselves) will have a negative impact on wages (something i believe you said is attributed to mass immigration) and not affect the housing market because "the money is there" (ignoring any other restraints)
just so im clear as well, you identify more with a criminal from hong kong than a law abiding citizen from poland because they have a lower english proficiency (as a country), a tiny amount of them are protestants (majority non religious), and because they had an unarmed police force

and somehow that all means it's all going to go smoothly.

im not even against this policy but your mental gymastics here is outstanding bravo
god forbid jointly helping a few thousand syrian refugees escaping a literal warzone, but 3m+ from Hong Kong? thats fineeeeeee

btw those numbers look more like gdp per capita to me

[-:Undertaker:-]

just so im clear
an instant arrival of 3m+ unemployed (eu citizens were not allowed to remain indefinitely without employment or the ability to support themselves) will have a negative impact on wages (something i believe you said is attributed to mass immigration) and not affect the housing market because "the money is there" (ignoring any other restraints)

And if you examine the statistics I posted, those from Hong Kong have a per capita income that is nearly more than x4 than those from Poland. There's no doubt that those coming from Hong Kong will have the financial means to support themselves until they gain employment - more to the point, they also have such a high capital base that it would likely be them founding companies and businesses for Britons, rather than going to pick fruit in a field and sending the money back to Warsaw and Krakow.


just so im clear as well, you identify more with a criminal from hong kong than a law abiding citizen from poland because they have a lower english proficiency (as a country), a tiny amount of them are protestants (majority non religious), and because they had an unarmed police force

A criminal in the eyes of whom, exactly? The Chinese Communist Party? An organisation that "disappears" dissidents, ethnically cleanses areas and runs tanks over protestors? Anne Frank was also a criminal if that is your definition of the word. This is open to those pre-1997 who have links with us.

I do identify more with the people of Hong Kong than Europe - not all of them as there has been an influx from the mainland who would not be eligible for entering Britain - for the reasons listed, yes. Britain has far more in common and shared history with Hong Kong than Poland or Lithuania. I have felt more at home in certain ways whilst in Bombay (India) and Columbo (Sri Lanka) than I have in Barcelona (Spain) or Heraklion (Greece). And that's not just my view as opinions polls show a majority supporting this policy, whereas a majority were against EU Freedom of Movement hence why Remain lost.


im not even against this policy but your mental gymastics here is outstanding bravo
god forbid jointly helping a few thousand syrian refugees escaping a literal warzone, but 3m+ from Hong Kong? thats fineeeeeee

Where's the mental gymnastics? I have always said that issues like these come to commonality between peoples, that is what democratic consented is based upon (the demos). Britain has no historical connection with Syria, whereas we only departed Hong Kong in 1997 under an agreement.

The Ugandan Asians I supported allowing in because it was not long after Ugandan independence and they were in Uganda because of the British Empire and were very loyal throughout our time there, the same for those who fled Rhodesia and are fleeing South Africa who are of British descent.

If India were to start persecuting the Anglo-Indians, then I would consider the same again.


btw those numbers look more like gdp per capita to me

Average income per capita and converted from USD into GBP.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Interesting comments in the form of tweets here from someone who voted Remain.

So much for that EU Foreign policy influence. How nice that we're able to stand up for our own interests with our natural allies.

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[Bbcuklol]

I mean when I saw the news about this my only thoughts were that it was going to be interesting when China responded and things went on from there. I mean we shall see what happens when this come into effect and if the USA or any other country will do the same.