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- The UK Passport Office has issued a record number of British national passports (overseas) to Hong Kong residents this year, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
- With about 200,000 of those passports issued in the first 10 months of the year, they are issued at a rate of about five per minute, according to the report.
- A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused Great Britain of violating its commitments to the international community.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories.
As China has strengthened its grip on the Hong Kong government this year, Hong Kong citizens have sought a record number of UK passports, a report says.
The UK Passport Office issued more than 200,000 British national (overseas) passports, or BN (O), to Hong Kong in the first 10 months of the year, a rate that was roughly equivalent to five per minute, according to Bloomberg News. , which obtained the data. from the UK Passport Office with an application for the Freedom of Information Act.
In October, about 60,000 such passports were issued, an increase of more than 50% from the same month last year, according to Bloomberg. The UK has issued more passports to Hong Kong residents than any year since 1997, when it returned the country to China.
In a briefing on Friday, Hua Chunying, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said his country “made its position clear on the BN (O) passport issue.” He accused the UK of interfering in political affairs in China and Hong Kong.
According to an official transcript, he said: “It is the British side that has been violating its commitments and repeatedly exploiting the BN (O) passport issue to interfere in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs. The British side broke its promise first. China will consider not recognizing the BNO passport as a valid travel document, and China reserves the right to take further action. “
A group of Hong Kong citizens protest outside the London Houses of Parliament against the limited rights of passport holders of British nationality (abroad).
Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The number of passports issued to Hong Kongers so far this year is less than the total of 3 million offered by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced that the country would issue the passports in July. China responded by threatening to stop recognizing BN (O) passports.
Johnson’s announcement came amid months-long protests in Hong Kong, which since 1997 has been a special administrative region of China. Proponents of democracy and protesters there have said that China’s restrictive new security law is taking away freedoms.
Since the security law was passed in June, the United States has increased sanctions on banks operating in Hong Kong. The leader of the latter, Carrie Lam, told an interviewer late last month that she cannot open a bank account and that her monthly salary of $ 56,000 is accumulated in cash in her apartment.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Wednesday condemning the “political persecution” of democracy advocates in Hong Kong.
“The use of courts to silence peaceful dissent is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes and underlines once again that the greatest fear of the Communist Party of China is the freedom of expression and free thought of its own people,” he said.
China responded by saying it was “a country under the rule of law.”
Chunying said: “We urge certain American politicians to stop meddling in China’s Hong Kong affairs and deliberately defaming and blaming China in the name of so-called freedom and democracy. In fact, the more they do, the more people will see. through their double standards and hypocrisy. “
