China says UK citizenship path for Hong Kong residents violates international law

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A new British policy that allows Hong Kong residents to claim British citizenship is a violation of international law and interferes with China’s internal affairs, the Chinese embassy in London said on Thursday.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Wednesday that Hong Kong people with British National Overseas or BN (O) status could apply for special visas to live in Britain that could eventually lead to citizenship, starting in January. from 2021.

Britain had made that decision despite opposition from Beijing, and China would respond strongly if not reversed, the Chinese embassy said in a statement.

The move “severely violated (Britain’s) own commitments, seriously interfered with China’s internal affairs and seriously violated international law and the basic rules of international relations,” he said.

The London decision, which could allow nearly three million Hong Kong residents to settle in Britain, came after Beijing imposed new security legislation on the former British colony that, according to democracy activists, would put end to the freedoms promised in 1997 when the territory returned to Chinese rule.

The British Hong Kong Consulate General said in a press release on Thursday that the immigration route gives BN (O) citizens the right to live, work or study in Britain, and it was done “following the government’s decision Chinese to impose a new Hong Kong National Security Law. ”

Britain says the law violates the terms of the transfer treaty agreed in 1984. China accuses Britain of interfering in Hong Kong and Chinese affairs.

“The Chinese side urges the British side to acknowledge the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China, to look at Hong Kong’s national security law objectively and immediately correct its mistakes,” the embassy said.