SHANGHAI (CHINA) – The Chinese embassy in London said on Thursday that the policy of permitting residents of Hong Kong to claim British citizenship violates international law, adding that it also amounted to meddling with China’s internal matters.
Interior Minister Priti Patel said on Wednesday that residents of the financial hub with British National Overseas visas would be eligible to apply for citizenship from January 2021.
The government took the decision in spite of mounting opposition from China and Beijing vowed to retaliate strongly if it was not revoked, said the embassy in a statement.
The statement said the move “severely violated (Britain’s) own commitments, seriously interfered with the internal affairs of China and seriously violated international law and the basic norms of international relations.”
The decision to permit almost three million Hong Kong residents to settle down in Britain came after China imposed a new security law on the city, which was a former British colony until 1997 when it was returned to Chinese rule. Westminster believes that the freedoms promised to Hong Kong residents during the transfer of power would be curtailed by the new law.
London also said the new law breached the terms of the treaty inked in 1984.
“The Chinese side urges the British side to recognise the reality that Hong Kong has returned to China, to look at the Hong Kong national security law objectively and immediately correct its mistakes,” the embassy said.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field