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LONDON: Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law held his first meeting with a UK minister on Wednesday (December 9) after fleeing to Britain in July, as the government seeks to ease entry rules for residents who want to escape Chinese repression against the former British colony. .
The meeting was called by Shaun Bailey, who is running for mayor of London for the ruling Conservatives, and was attended by Home Secretary Priti Patel as she reviews a plan to relax entry rules for British national passport holders (en abroad) from Hong Kong.
“The BNO scheme means a lot to the people of Hong Kong who have tasted freedom but are gradually losing it,” Law said in a statement issued by Bailey’s campaign office.
“It helps them to live free from political persecution. I am very grateful to Interior Minister Priti Patel for her efforts in crafting this policy and we had a constructive dialogue about it,” he said.
Patel said: “The UK will support the people of Hong Kong and keep our promise to protect and defend their freedoms.”
Britain created BNO status before Hong Kong’s return to the Chinese government in 1997, allowing its residents to apply for a restricted form of British nationality.
The UK has already relaxed the requirements to allow Hong Kong residents with BNO status to come to Britain with their dependents, allowing them to stay and work for five years, and then apply for full citizenship.
More than 350,000 people currently hold BNO passports, and the government estimates that there are around 2.9 million eligible for status in total in Hong Kong.
Patel’s Home Office is conducting a review to loosen the rules further, and an announcement is expected next month.
‘Irritating and palatable’
Law, 27, moved to Britain days after confirming that he had fled Hong Kong due to Beijing’s new security law, which was imposed in the semi-autonomous territory on June 30 after years of massive protests.
He was a founding member of Demosisto, a pro-democracy party that dissolved the same day the security law was instituted.
Several prominent pro-democracy activists have been jailed after the protests. (Photo: AFP / Anthony Wallace)
Three other prominent Demosisto characters, Joshua Wong, Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow, were sentenced to prison in Hong Kong a week ago for participating in massive democracy protests last year.
That sparked strong protests from Britain’s government, but it has so far backtracked from imposing financial and travel bans on Chinese and Hong Kong leaders, unlike the US government.
In a debate on Hong Kong on Monday, British lawmakers voiced strong support for jailed protest leaders, arrested media mogul Jimmy Lai and pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui, who this month joined Law in his self-exile.
They expressed particular fury at London and Hong Kong-based banking giant HSBC for freezing bank accounts linked to figures like Hui.
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith accused HSBC of acting in a “shameful and appalling manner” and demanded retaliation against the bank by the UK government.
Foreign Minister Nigel Adams said it is up to individual companies “to make their own decisions”, following pressure on major Chinese companies.
Adams added that it would be “perverse” for Britain to eventually deny people like Joshua Wong asylum because of their criminal convictions.
Britain’s Consul General in Hong Kong, Andrew Heyn, criticized China’s growing crackdown in interviews with local media this week as he prepares to leave the territory.
Denying suggestions that Heyn had expressed dissatisfaction with his Hong Kong policy, the London government said his fate had come to a normal end after four years.
