HONG KONG, March 25 (Reuters) – Hong Kong government has told some foreign consulates to stop accepting a British travel document many of its young people use to apply for work holiday visas in Europe, America from North and parts of Asia, diplomats say.
In a move seen by some envoys as a diplomatic affront, the government reported a dozen foreign consulates in a letter that no longer considered the British National Overseas Passport (BNO) a valid travel document from 31 January. .
The letter, seen by Reuters, demanded that the Hong Kong passport be used.
A generation of diplomats erupted over the BNO in January after Britain introduced a new visa plan that offered a path to full citizenship for Hong Kongers who want to leave China-ruled territory.
Britain launched the scheme after Hong Kong passed a widespread national security law last year, which critics say is crushing dissent in the former British colony.
Nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents have or are eligible for the BNO document, which was created before Britain ceded the city to Chinese rule in 1997.
Hong Kong also began to reflect mainland China by not recognizing dual nationality, avoiding for the first time foreign diplomats visiting locals with detained foreign passports.
“Most countries will ignore this,” said a senior Western diplomat who had seen the letter.
“The Hong Kong government is proving it … they have no right to tell any state which foreign passports it can recognize.”
Another envoy described the movement as “bordering on the belligerent” and said it was not the way the Hong Kong government, generally aware of the city’s position as an international financial center, has behaved. traditionally.
The Hong Kong government has not yet responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
A Hong Kong government website lists 14 countries under the reciprocal working holiday regime, including Japan, Canada, Germany, Britain and Australia.
Officials from Japan, South Korea, Italy and New Zealand confirmed to Reuters that they still recognized the BNO passport for visas. The South Korean Foreign Ministry added that it had not received the letter while Hungary said yes, and that it had started talks to change the working holiday program.
Other countries, including the United States, Finland, and Norway, also offer similar student arrangements or exchanges for Hong Kong and have accepted BNOs from applicants.
It is not known if the United States also received the letter, but a State Department spokesman told Reuters that the BNO was still valid for issuing visas and for traveling to the United States.
Hong Kong’s moves against the BNO followed an announcement by the UK government that its new visa could attract more than 300,000 people and their dependents.
London said it was fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong under the national security law, which allows suspects in serious cases to be transferred from the border and tried in mainland Chinese courts.
Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say legislation is needed to provide stability to the city following anti-government protests that erupted in 2019.
The UK scheme allows those with BNO status to live, study and work in Britain for five years and ultimately apply for citizenship.
Beijing said it would turn them into second-class citizens, a line propagated by pro-Beijing media commentators in Hong Kong.
Britain returned its former colony to Chinese rule in 1997 with guarantees of its fundamental freedoms, broad autonomy, and capitalist way of life. (Report by Greg Torode and Anne Marie Roantree in Hong Kong, Additional Report by Krisztina Than in Hungary, Antoni Slodkowski in Tokyo, Hyonhee Shin in South Korea, Praveen Menon in New Zealand and Crispian Balmer in Italy; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore )