Hong Kong's British passport holders prepare to flee China's crackdown

Hundreds of Hong Kong’s beleaguered citizens are already preparing to quit the province and flee to Britain and the west in the face of growing Chinese repression.

Many of its 350,000 British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders are thought to be considering requesting asylum after the imposition of controversial national security legislation tightened China’s grip on Hong Kong.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab signalled on Thursday that the UK government will make it easier for them to work in the UK and become British citizens if they flee the region.

That has been welcomed by democracy activists and BNO passport holders (see picture below) as a possible means of escape if China continues to undermine the principles of ‘two countries one system’ and threaten human rights through more direct intervention.

It comes as the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused the Chinese Communist Party of “crushing what made Hong Kong different from the rest of China” and endorsed President Trump’s decision to revoke Hong Kong’s special treatment as a separate trade and customs territory from the rest of China, which helped it to flourish into a global financial centre.

BNO passports were issued to people in Hong Kong born before the 1997 handover to China, but under current rules holders can only visit Britain for up to six months.

According to the latest Home Office figures there are 2.9 million Hongkongers eligible for the status, though only 349,881 hold valid passports.

One told The Telegraph that the British government’s announcement had given her a “Plan B”.

Charlotte Chan, 23, a bank worker, said: “The policy allows me to think about migrating to other countries if things in Hong Kong get out of control. With the sensitive political circumstances happening in Hong Kong, I have the urge to renew my BNO passport . . . to validate my identity if I travel to other countries. I feel more secure to have it.

“I haven’t planned to move to somewhere else, but at least I’m given an option now. I will consider studying in the UK for my master's now because it’s easier to get the right of abode.”

Ms Chan added: “The UK government is finally taking the long-awaited responsibility to protect Hong Kong after the handover by this expansion of visa rights. I’m very afraid that the national security legislation will brutally punish people in Hong Kong who do not agree with Beijing.”

Others in Hong Kong are selling assets and shares in preparation to quit, with the number of searches on Google for “emigration” in Chinese sharply increasing after the new national security legislation was approved by China’s parliament last week.

Elsa Li, 48, a marketing executive and mother of one, said she converted most of her family’s savings into US dollars, sold her Hong Kong and China shares and bought US stocks, as soon as the news of the national security law emerged. She also began completing the necessary forms to apply for emigration.

“The US move won’t change the fact that Hong Kong is doomed. But since we’re doomed anyway, we hope mainland China will suffer through our demise,” she told The Guardian.

BNO passport holder Bryan Chan, a freelance sports marketing consultant, who has begun  applying for residency in Canada via its express entry programme for skilled workers, told The South China Morning Post: “The social unrest was not a factor, but rather how Chinese authorities and the Hong Kong government handled the situation.”

The approval of the national security law sparked a new wave of anti-mainland protests in Hong Kong, with police firing pepper ball rounds, using water cannons and arresting hundreds of demonstrators.

British MPs who back the UK government's intention to change the status of BNO passport holders said they should be welcomed to Britain.

Bob Seely, a member of the Foreign Affair Select Committee, told this newspaper: “These are precisely the sort of go-getting, entrepreneurial people Britain wants. People from Hong Kong seeking asylum would be up and running as soon as they got here and we should allow that and welcome them.”