[News] Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

[NANO]

Up to three million Hong Kong residents are to be offered the chance to settle in the UK and ultimately apply for citizenship, Boris Johnson has said.

The PM said Hong Kong's freedoms were being violated by a new security law and those affected would be offered a "route" out of the former UK colony.  About 350,000 UK passport holders, and 2.6 million others eligible, will be able to come to the UK for five years.  And after a further year, they will be able to apply for citizenship.  At the moment, British National Overseas Passport holders have restricted rights and are only entitled to visa-free access to the UK for six months.  Under the government's plans, all British Overseas Nationals and their dependents will be given right to remain in the UK, including the right to work, for five years. At this point, they will be able to apply for settled status, and after a further year, seek citizenship.      HK arrests dozens as 'anti-protest' law kicks in     UK to offer citizenship 'route' to HK residents     Political battle looming over UK China relations  Speaking in the Commons, the PM said Tuesday's passing of a new security law was a "clear and serious breach" of the 1985 Sino-British joint declaration - a legally binding agreement which set out how certain freedoms would be protected for the 50 years after China assumed sovereignty in 1997. 'New route'  "It violates Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and threatens the freedoms and rights protected by the joint declaration," he said.  "We made clear that if China continued down this path we would introduce a new route for those with British National (Overseas) status to enter the UK, granting them limited leave to remain with the ability to live and work in the UK and thereafter to apply for citizenship.And that is precisely what we will do now."  Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said there would be no limit on numbers or quotas, telling MPs that the UK would "not duck" its international obligations when it came to Hong Kong.  Hong Kong's new national security law, which targets secession, subversion and terrorism with punishments up to life in prison, came into effect on Tuesday.Critics say it effectively puts an end to the "one country, two systems" principle enshrined in the 1985 Joint Declaration.  The UK government is under pressure to take a firm line with Beijing from MPs on all sides of the Commons, who are worried about China's increasingly assertive role regionally and the security implications of Chinese firm Huawei's involvement in the UK's 5G network.  Labour said it welcomed the government's action and said there must be no discrimination on the basis of income or other factors.  China rejects criticism of its actions, on what it says are internal matters.  On Wednesday, several people were arrested in Hong Kong, including a man carrying a pro-independence flag as police used pepper spray to disperse some protesters gathered to mark 23 years since British rule ended.  The annual pro-democracy march to mark the anniversary had been banned for the first time by authorities, who cited a bar on gatherings of more than 50 people because of Covid-19.