WEB DESK
China said Friday that it would not recognize the British National Overseas (BNO) passport for Hong Kong people as a valid travel document or for proof of identity from January 31.
The Chinese foreign ministry announced the decision on Friday, hours after the United Kingdom said it would begin taking applications for BNO visas, beginning late on Sunday from millions more residents of its former colony.
The move is seen as retaliation by the UK following imposition of a new security law in Hong Kong. Under this as many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible to live and work in the UK for five years and eventually seek British citizenship.
Announcing the decision which China had already warned last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the UK’s move grossly violates China’s sovereignty, interferes in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs. It added that it reserves the right to take further actions.
The Hong Kong government echoed Beijing’s position and declared in a statement on Friday that with effect from January 31, BNO passports could no longer be used for immigration clearance and would not be recognized as proof of identity. The statement said, when passengers board flights for Hong Kong, airlines must require Hong Kong residents concerned to present their Hong Kong passports or Hong Kong permanent identity cards as proof.
BNO Passport was first offered ahead of the former British colony’s handover to Chinese rule in 1997, under which BNO passport holders could only visit the UK for six months and had no right to work or settle there.
But China’s crackdown in the aftermath of new security law in the territory led to growing pressure for BNO privileges to be expanded. Critics say Beijing’s national security law, implemented after months of pro-democracy protests, violates China’s commitment to allow Hong Kong to maintain certain freedoms for 50 years after Britain’s handover.