HONG KONG: Britain informed Hong Kong on Friday that it had “no proper” to order different international locations to not settle for a UK journey doc for a preferred youth working scheme after the town confirmed it had made the request to a number of different nations.
The row is the newest diplomatic spat centering on the British Nationwide (Abroad) passport as China imposes a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
The BNO passport is a legacy of Hong Kong’s handover to China by colonial Britain in 1997.
Till not too long ago it allowed Hong Kongers born earlier than 1997 better journey privileges to the UK however no working or settling rights.
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However after Beijing imposed a sweeping nationwide safety regulation on the town final 12 months, Britain started providing a pathway to citizenship for BNO passport holders and their households.
In response, Hong Kong and China mentioned it will not recognise the BNO passport as a official journey doc.
Late Thursday, Hong Kong confirmed media experiences that it had not too long ago written to 14 consulates telling them to not enable younger folks to make use of their BNO passports to use for working vacation visas in Europe, North America and components of Asia.
“Hong Kong members underneath the Working Vacation Scheme must be confined to holders of the HKSAR passport,” a spokesperson of Hong Kong’s Labour Division added in a press release.
That sparked anger in Britain, which mentioned international locations had the appropriate to make their very own guidelines on which journey paperwork they settle for for identification.
“The Hong Kong authorities has no authority to dictate which passports overseas governments recognise as legitimate,” a spokeswoman for the British International Workplace mentioned on Friday.
“The UK will proceed to concern British Nationals (Abroad) passports which stay legitimate journey paperwork.”
The 14 international locations which have signed working vacation agreements with Hong Kong are Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Eire, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and Britain.
One Western diplomat in Hong Kong informed AFP most of these international locations had been nonetheless accepting BNO passports for working vacation schemes and that the Hong Kong authorities has no solution to implement its request.
Hong Kong residents are not allowed to enter Hong Kong and mainland China with BNO passports.
The ban has a restricted sensible impact as Hong Kongers depart airports utilizing identification playing cards and most have Hong Kong passports.
Nonetheless, it has impacted a small variety of largely South Asian Hong Kongers who solely possess BNO passports and aren’t thought-about “Chinese language nationals” by authorities.
