HONG KONG: Western nations are moving to offer millions of Hong Kong residents refuge after Beijing passed security laws designed to choke the city's protest movement – but many obstacles prevent a mass exodus.
The United Kingdom is leading allies in offering nearly half the city's 7.5 million people a potential pathway to British citizenship, with strong indications Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States may also offer some form of asylum.
In a direct challenge to China, members of the so-called Five Eyes alliance have framed the move as a moral imperative – a bid to help Hong Kong residents escape the clutches of a police state.
Speaking in parliament, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said Britain had a duty of care to residents of a colony it handed back to China in 1997.
He said the country would allow anyone with British National (Overseas) (BNO) status – and their dependents – to come to the UK and eventually receive citizenship. That is estimated to be more than 3 million Hong Kong residents.
In the US, a cross-party group of prominent senators this week proposed legislation giving an unlimited number of Hong Kong protesters a fast-track to refugee status.
Australia hinted strongly that an offer of safe haven would be made in the coming days while Canada has quietly emerged in recent months as a potential sanctuary with at least 50 Hong Kong residents lodging asylum applications according to local activists.
HONG KONGERS TORN
In the run up to the 1997 handover, hundreds of thousands left Hong Kong, mainly to join large Cantonese communities in Australia, Canada and the US. But many returned in the intervening years.
This time around Britain's offer is the most comprehensive.
BNO status is open to anyone born before Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China.
There are currently some 300,000 BNO passport holders, but around 2.7 million Hong Kongers are eligible to apply and there has been a rush of new applications.
"I will depart as soon as possible to start a new life in the UK using the scheme," Asuka Law, a recent university graduate, told AFP, adding she was "immensely grateful" to Britain and expected to leave in the autumn.
Bystanders watch protesters on a street below a shop during a rally against a new national security law in Hong Kong on Jul 1, 2020. (File photo: AFP/ANTHONY WALLACE)
An accountant who only gave his first name Sam said he was torn.
"I still love Hong Kong very much," he said. "But I'll reapply for the BNO passport first and decide after the details are confirmed. It gives us one more way out."
On Thursday, prominent activist Nathan Law confirmed he had fled the city to an undisclosed location overseas.
Hui Feng, a political expert at Australia's Griffith University, said an influx of Hong Kong residents to economically troubled Britain "could lead to concerns for a surge in supply to an already tight labour market".
"But the latest poll suggests that the majority of Britons approve the government's decision on this," he told AFP.
WILL CHINA BLOCK DEPARTURES?
Yet behind the dramatic invitations – and the potential rewards of attracting an influx of well-educated, often English-speaking and wealthy emigres – experts wonder how many Hong Kong residents can or would leave.
The coronavirus pandemic has severely restricted travel options from Hong Kong.
Many of those involved in the protests are youngsters from blue-collar families with limited resources to upend their lives.
"Abandoning your home, friends and family, potentially forever, is not an easy decision," Ben Bland, author of a book on young people and identity in Hong Kong, told AFP.
"Setting up a new life overseas will be even harder in the midst of a global pandemic and deep recession. And many activists still want to stay and fight for their city."
China has also threatened countermeasures against Britain's move to extend immigration rights.
In an interview earlier this week Raab admitted there was little London could do if China simply stopped Hong Kong residents from leaving.
"Ultimately we need to be honest that we wouldn't be able to force China to allow BNOs to come to the UK," he said.
And while sanctions are an option, there is a high chance they would disrupt Western businesses operating in Hong Kong just as much as Chinese ones.
A student born after 1997 and not eligible for the passport said she had no plans to leave.
"We shouldn't be especially happy about the news," the student, who gave her nickname Blue, told AFP when asked about Britain's BNO offer.
"We should stay here and fight for our place," she added.
HONG KONG: Western nations are moving to offer millions of Hong Kong residents refuge after Beijing passed security laws designed to choke the city's protest movement – but many obstacles prevent a mass exodus.
The United Kingdom is leading allies in offering nearly half the city's 7.5 million people a potential pathway to British citizenship, with strong indications Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States may also offer some form of asylum.
In a direct challenge to China, members of the so-called Five Eyes alliance have framed the move as a moral imperative – a bid to help Hong Kong residents escape the clutches of a police state.
Speaking in parliament, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said Britain had a duty of care to residents of a colony it handed back to China in 1997.
He said the country would allow anyone with British National (Overseas) (BNO) status – and their dependents – to come to the UK and eventually receive citizenship. That is estimated to be more than 3 million Hong Kong residents.
In the US, a cross-party group of prominent senators this week proposed legislation giving an unlimited number of Hong Kong protesters a fast-track to refugee status.
Australia hinted strongly that an offer of safe haven would be made in the coming days while Canada has quietly emerged in recent months as a potential sanctuary with at least 50 Hong Kong residents lodging asylum applications according to local activists.
HONG KONGERS TORN
In the run up to the 1997 handover, hundreds of thousands left Hong Kong, mainly to join large Cantonese communities in Australia, Canada and the US. But many returned in the intervening years.
This time around Britain's offer is the most comprehensive.
BNO status is open to anyone born before Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China.
There are currently some 300,000 BNO passport holders, but around 2.7 million Hong Kongers are eligible to apply and there has been a rush of new applications.
"I will depart as soon as possible to start a new life in the UK using the scheme," Asuka Law, a recent university graduate, told AFP, adding she was "immensely grateful" to Britain and expected to leave in the autumn.
Bystanders watch protesters on a street below a shop during a rally against a new national security law in Hong Kong on Jul 1, 2020. (File photo: AFP/ANTHONY WALLACE)
An accountant who only gave his first name Sam said he was torn.
"I still love Hong Kong very much," he said. "But I'll reapply for the BNO passport first and decide after the details are confirmed. It gives us one more way out."
On Thursday, prominent activist Nathan Law confirmed he had fled the city to an undisclosed location overseas.
Hui Feng, a political expert at Australia's Griffith University, said an influx of Hong Kong residents to economically troubled Britain "could lead to concerns for a surge in supply to an already tight labour market".
"But the latest poll suggests that the majority of Britons approve the government's decision on this," he told AFP.
WILL CHINA BLOCK DEPARTURES?
Yet behind the dramatic invitations – and the potential rewards of attracting an influx of well-educated, often English-speaking and wealthy emigres – experts wonder how many Hong Kong residents can or would leave.
The coronavirus pandemic has severely restricted travel options from Hong Kong.
Many of those involved in the protests are youngsters from blue-collar families with limited resources to upend their lives.
"Abandoning your home, friends and family, potentially forever, is not an easy decision," Ben Bland, author of a book on young people and identity in Hong Kong, told AFP.
"Setting up a new life overseas will be even harder in the midst of a global pandemic and deep recession. And many activists still want to stay and fight for their city."
China has also threatened countermeasures against Britain's move to extend immigration rights.
In an interview earlier this week Raab admitted there was little London could do if China simply stopped Hong Kong residents from leaving.
"Ultimately we need to be honest that we wouldn't be able to force China to allow BNOs to come to the UK," he said.
And while sanctions are an option, there is a high chance they would disrupt Western businesses operating in Hong Kong just as much as Chinese ones.
A student born after 1997 and not eligible for the passport said she had no plans to leave.
"We shouldn't be especially happy about the news," the student, who gave her nickname Blue, told AFP when asked about Britain's BNO offer.
"We should stay here and fight for our place," she added.
LONDON: Hong Kong's fate shows China's true authoritarianism so the rest of the world should stand up to President Xi Jinping and start to put human rights above financial gain, activist Nathan Law told Reuters.
China unveiled a national security law this week which Hong Kong protesters and the West say breaches the "one country, two systems" principle enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British treaty that guaranteed the autonomy of Hong Kong.
"The protests in Hong Kong have been a window for the world to recognise that China is getting more and more authoritarian," Law told Reuters via Internet video. Law, 26, left Hong Kong this week. He declined to disclose his location.
Law called on the international community to put human rights above the financial interests of trading with the world's second-largest economy and to "multilaterally deal with the China issue in a more assertive way".
"It is important we prioritise human rights issues over trade when we deal with China," he said.
The British flag was lowered over Hong Kong when the colony was handed back to China in 1997 after more than 150 years of British rule – imposed after Britain defeated China in the First Opium War.
Britain says the national security law breaches the agreements made at the time of the handover and that China is crushing the freedoms that have helped make Hong Kong one of the world's most glittering financial hubs.
Hong Kong and Beijing officials have said the law is vital to plug holes in national security defences exposed by the protests. China has repeatedly told Western powers to stop meddling in Hong Kong's affairs.
"The national security law is basically the end of 'one country, two systems' because there is no longer two systems, no more firewall between Hong Kong and China – it is basically merged," Law said.
"The international community should recognise that and put relevant mechanisms to hold China accountable," he said. "The international community should review whether Hong Kong should enjoy certain privileges that were given under the premise that Hong Kong was autonomous."
Law said businesses and professionals were seriously considering leaving Hong Kong, once ranked as Asia's top financial hub, due to China's crackdown.
While Law said the national security law was aimed at crushing the movement, he said Hong Kong would not surrender and the resistance would continue.
"The democratic movement will still be vibrant even though it will be in other forms or in other ways of representation but still we can see that the resistance movement is still alive," Law said.
"It is better for you to step down," Law said, when asked what he would tell Xi.
"It is time for a leader for the country who knows how to treat the people good and lead the country in a more healthy, positive way instead of just messing up the whole country."
