Britons support government's aggressive policy on Hong Kong
Following the announcement of the UK’s government’s tentative plans to offer citizenship to some Hong Kong residents, the British public appears to be broadly in favor of the idea.
The offer by foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to give British National (Overseas) or BNO passport holders in Hong Kong a path to full British citizenship was calculated to provoke China which in 1997 took back control of Hong Kong from the UK.
Valuable statement by our EU partners, standing in solidarity with UK and our Five Eyes partners - in support of international law and the people of Hong Kong. https://t.co/HgEUBlKjp8
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) May 29, 2020
Raab’s provocative offer was made after China’s National People’s Congress (Parliament) approved a National Security law which would enable anti-sedition powers to be directly applied to Hong Kong.
The move by the Chinese Parliament came after more than a year of intermittent violent protests and rioting in Hong Kong aimed at undermining China’s sovereignty over the special administrative region.
The Hong Kong protesters often display pro-British sympathies and enjoy at least the rhetorical support of the British government.
And now an opinion poll by the market research firm YouGov indicates that a clear majority of British people support their government’s tentative decision to grant up to 300,000 BNO passport holders full British citizenship.
The opinion poll is based on a sample of 2883 British adults, 42 percent of whom support the government’s plans, 24 percent are opposed and 34 percent are undecided.
By 42% to 24% Britons support Dominic Raab's proposal to offer Hong Kongers greater visa rights to live and work in Britain if China imposes repressive security law https://t.co/JdzAuanS32 pic.twitter.com/9N4Av2fode
— YouGov (@YouGov) May 29, 2020
It is not too often that British public opinion is aligned with official foreign policy so to that extent this opinion poll is significant.
For its part, China has reacted strongly to the provocative British proposal aimed at fully embracing BNO passport holders.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian retorted that the UK and China had agreed that holders of BNO passports should not enjoy UK residency.
"All such BNO passport holders are Chinese nationals and if the UK insists on changing this practice it will not only violate its own stance but also international law", Lijian added.
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