The China Thread

[DGuller]

This just in, so I haven't found an English source yet.  China's foreign ministry just announced that BN(O) passports will no longer be recognised as a valid travel or ID document.

That sounds like a big deal, no?

[Josquius]

This just in, so I haven't found an English source yet.  China's foreign ministry just announced that BN(O) passports will no longer be recognised as a valid travel or ID document. 

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/01/29/breaking-china-will-no-longer-recognise-uk-issued-bno-passports-for-hongkongers/

The only solution is to stop recognising fake Chinese passports. Taiwan is the only China.

[The Brain]

It Taitoo baby.

[Sheilbh]

This just in, so I haven't found an English source yet.  China's foreign ministry just announced that BN(O) passports will no longer be recognised as a valid travel or ID document.

That sounds like a big deal, no?

Is it? Everyone who's eligible for a BN(O) passport (and the visa route in the UK under that passport) is also eligible for a Hong Kong passport.

So they can apply for the UK visa on the BN(O) passport and travel on their Hong Kong passport. People who are activists or otherwise of interest to the Chinese state may not be able to travel out of Hong Kong easily, but that would apply regardless of which passport they use.

But it is another example of China breaking treaty commitments and emphasises why it's essential that we open a route for BN(O) holders (and their famillies). If there was someway to easily offer a visa route to all of Hong Kong I'd back it

[Josquius]

I guess its less about emigration and more about consular protection?

[Monoriu]

This just in, so I haven't found an English source yet.  China's foreign ministry just announced that BN(O) passports will no longer be recognised as a valid travel or ID document.

That sounds like a big deal, no?

Not sure at this point.  I think the real significance is it shows China's willingness to fight back.  The real punishment is revoking the HK citizenship status for anyone who takes up the UK offer.  No coming back to HK to work, no voting in HK, no more public housing here (that's a gigantic deal here), etc. 

[Crazy_Ivan80]

This just in, so I haven't found an English source yet.  China's foreign ministry just announced that BN(O) passports will no longer be recognised as a valid travel or ID document.

That sounds like a big deal, no?

Not sure at this point.  I think the real significance is it shows China's willingness to fight back.  The real punishment is revoking the HK citizenship status for anyone who takes up the UK offer.  No coming back to HK to work, no voting in HK, no more public housing here (that's a gigantic deal here), etc.

on the other hand: no more chance to go to the extermination camps

[Monoriu]

At this point I think the practical effects are small.  It just means that BN(O) holders, most of them are Hong Kong people, cannot use it to leave and return to Hong Kong, cannot use it to buy air tickets etc.  The thing is, most HK people have three ways for ID and for passing border control: HK ID card, HK passport, and BN(O).  So even without the BN(O), the other two methods are still valid. 

So in terms of everyday life, this doesn't make much difference. 

The real implications are two-fold.  First, this is a signal that China will fight back.  This may only be the start.  The implicit threat is that they may take away the HK citizenship of anyone who takes up the offer any time.  The lightest implication is they cannot vote.  The medium implication is they cannot become civil servants or work for any publicly funded body.  That includes most hospitals, universities, schools, cultural bodies, and social welfare NGOs.  The most severe punishment is they cannot enter HK at all, and all welfare will be revoked, the most significant of all is the right to public housing, which in the most expensive city on Earth is an enormous deal. 

The second implication is that China may influence other nations into not recognising BN(O). 

[Monoriu]

Not sure if you can read this.  Very interesting comments.  Some very unexpected reaction.  "They [HK people] will raise the national IQ by 10%"

Also, HK people are hardworking and have a work ethic that will put Brits to shame 

[Admiral Yi]

Not sure if you can read this.

[Monoriu]

Not sure if you can read this.

I was worried that the picture won't load properly.  On my computer I need to click on it before it will enlarge. 

[Valmy]

Also, HK people are hardworking and have a work ethic that will put Brits to shame 

Sometimes racist stereotypes work in your favor. You are all head working smart people.

[Sheilbh]

Also, HK people are hardworking and have a work ethic that will put Brits to shame 

Sometimes racist stereotypes work in your favor. You are all head working smart people.

Yes - but also quite common British attitudes about the British (from an FT journalist watching focus groups of leavers and remainers):

The targets of Leavers' praise and anger surprised me. None of them attacked elitist Remainers. Many Leavers lauded European countries for their national pride or their childcare. They complained about the EU, but also wanted Britain to leave on good terms and keep co-operating with other countries rather than (in the words of a south-western Leaver) do "its own thing and yah boo sucks to everyone else".

The bogeyman for Leavers is the benefit scrounger. People repeatedly echoed an age-old tabloid theme: immigrants come to Britain to live off its sumptuous state benefits. But Leavers were equally concerned about homegrown scroungers. "The English are feral," lamented one woman in the West Midlands. "If you stubbed your toe, you got Disability Living Allowance for the rest of your life, and you don't go to work."

Leavers wondered why few young Britons had replaced immigrants as fruit pickers. Did youngsters nowadays just want to be vloggers and "influencers"? These complaints sounded more like generational incomprehension than generational conflict. Still, in Leaver rhetoric, disgust about contemporary Britain often overshadowed pride. It's a disgust that Brexiter politicians cannot admit to publicly.

And the proposals have broad support - especially compared to when the first path for citizenship for BN(O) holders was created in 1990:

[Monoriu]

One of my biggest shocks in Canada was they didn't have different classes of citizenship.  I at first assumed that I would become a Canadian National (Overseas) or something like that.  It would not include the right to vote or some such.  No big deal.  I then found out that Canada didn't have a ladder of citizenship like the UK did.  Then I began to notice that, actually, not that many countries in the world had different classes of citizenship.  The UK was actually the exception. 

[Admiral Yi]

It is a weird concept.