UK offers 3mil Hong Kong Residents Citizenship offer

[Monster Hunter]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53246899

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.

British National Overseas Passport holders in Hong Kong were granted special status in the 1980s but currently 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 dependants will be given right to remain in the UK, including the right to work and study, for five years. At this point, they will be able to apply for settled status, and after a further year, seek citizenship.

depending on how popular this is, it could be a major game changer politically, the population of Hong Kong is only 7.451mil removing just over 3 million citizens, nearly half of its residents, from the city would essentially be an economic nuke right into one of china's most profitable cities.

i must admit, this is a very bold move by the PM, and not something i expected at all, especially from a usually anti-immigration conservative government, more so considering all the talk there was about closer ties with china and trade only a few months ago. though that narrative has now shifted more to the whole CANZUK free movement and economic zone proposal which has seen a lot of bi-lateral support from both wings of politics.

whats peoples thoughts on this? is it a good move? personally i back it, we made these people a promise in 1997, that we wouldn't let china take away there freedoms, and just like a man a country is only as good if it can back up its promises with actions and this is the only action i can see atm that ensure's we keep some of our promise to Hong Kong.

but i can also see that 3 million people is a lot of people, to put it in perspective that's twice the number of black people in the UK, 1 million more than the Muslim population of the UK and 6x the number of polish. IF even 70-80% took up the offer that would make Hong Kong expat's the largest minority group in the UK at the end of the 5 year move. so id hope the government is prepared to make the investment needed to be able to meet that kind of surge in demand on our services and housing market.

[I Push Buttons]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53246899



depending on how popular this is, it could be a major game changer politically, the population of Hong Kong is only 7.451mil removing just over 3 million citizens, nearly half of its residents, from the city would essentially be an economic nuke right into one of china's most profitable cities.

i must admit, this is a very bold move by the PM, and not something i expected at all, especially from a usually anti-immigration conservative government, more so considering all the talk there was about closer ties with china and trade only a few months ago. though that narrative has now shifted more to the whole CANZUK free movement and economic zone proposal which has seen a lot of bi-lateral support from both wings of politics.

whats peoples thoughts on this? is it a good move? personally i back it, we made these people a promise in 1997, that we wouldn't let china take away there freedoms, and just like a man a country is only as good if it can back up its promises with actions and this is the only action i can see atm that ensure's we keep some of our promise to Hong Kong.

Great move. Hell, the US should offer them refuge as well.

Millions of highly educated/skilled, hard working, well-to-do, anti-communists... Any country would be lucky to have them.

[Saucexorzski]

Great move. Hell, the US should offer them refuge as well.

Millions of highly educated/skilled, hard working, well-to-do, anti-communists... Any country would be lucky to have them.

this, this so much.

[Theodarzna]

I guess how popular this is with the UK will depend on how many of these people have high degrees of education. Also politically it could be an unexpected player as if all 3mill take up the offer, or even 2 million do so it would make Hong Kongers the 2nd biggest ethnic group in the country, supplanting all others and if they vote as a bloc or close to it, it could be a big game changer depending on how that bloc votes.

[Saltysquidoon]

Millions of highly educated/skilled, hard working, well-to-do, anti-communists... Any country would be lucky to have them.

You know that hong kong is literally the capital of money laundering and the dirty money centre of the world right? It also has the most billionaires per capita on earth.
Further, most of that dirty money is being funnelled to those 'communists' you're so worried about.

[Monster Hunter]

I guess how popular this is with the UK will depend on how many of these people have high degrees of education. Also politically it could be an unexpected player as if all 3mill take up the offer, or even 2 million do so it would make Hong Kongers the 2nd biggest ethnic group in the country, supplanting all others and if they vote as a bloc or close to it, it could be a big game changer depending on how that bloc votes.

3mil from what ive seen would make them by far the largest. going off this.

Any Other White with 2.5 million people (4.4 per cent). Indian was the next largest ethnic group with 1.4 million people

now i do stand behind this policy on the moral principle of upholding ones promises and obligations, and that's that and need no further justification, you keep a promise. but it does defiantly raise questions and issue's about how it would look, how will it hit housing which is still in short supply can the economy grow fast enough to even have jobs for them to move into e.t.c, also how do they vote what effect will that have. lots of questions. and for many we should prepare answers, to make it smooth for us and them if they take up this offer.

could probably start by solving the whole foreign owned rentals problem that's particularly a problem in London to free up some housing.

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You know that hong kong is literally the capital of money laundering and the dirty money centre of the world right? It also has the most billionaires per capita on earth.
Further, most of that dirty money is being funnelled to those 'communists' you're so worried about.

so you would there for also be happy to see it basically de-populated? i mean, if you take 3 million people out of a city of only 7.... that's a big ass hit to that city's economy and ability to function.

[PC2]

Great move. Hell, the US should offer them refuge as well.

Millions of highly educated/skilled, hard working, well-to-do, anti-communists... Any country would be lucky to have them.

Exactly, they wouldn't be bringing in backwards ideas so as far as I'm concerned any amount of them should be welcome.

Of course mainland China is only taking away their ability to vocally disagree with them and not actually planning to hurt their economic well-being so I suspect there wouldn't be a massive exodus anyways.

[Monster Hunter]

Exactly, they wouldn't be bringing in backwards ideas so as far as I'm concerned any amount of them should be welcome.

Of course mainland China is only taking away their ability to disagree with them and not actually planning to hurt their economic well-being so I suspect there wouldn't be a massive exodus anyways.

i would hope that any who value freedom, and any educated enough to know your right to protest is the first right you lose on the slippery slope to totalitarianism would take advantage of the offer to get out now.

[Theodarzna]

3mil from what ive seen would make them by far the largest. going off this.

now i do stand behind this policy on the moral principle of upholding ones promises and obligations, and that's that and need no further justification, you keep a promise. but it does defiantly raise questions and issue's about how it would look, how will it hit housing which is still in short supply can the economy grow fast enough to even have jobs for them to move into e.t.c, also how do they vote what effect will that have. lots of questions. and for many we should prepare answers, to make it smooth for us and them if they take up this offer.

could probably start by solving the whole foreign owned rentals problem that's particularly a problem in London to free up some housing.

Yeah, I mean, my stance is that a promise is a promise, and good on Boris for honouring it.

[PC2]

i would hope that any who value freedom, and any educated enough to know your right to protest is the first right you lose on the slippery slope to totalitarianism would take advantage of the offer to get out now.

Of course it's terrible but my point is more that mainland China knows better than to use their newfound power in a way that hurts Hong Kong economically. The Chinese government is evil but not stupid.

[Monster Hunter]

Of course it's terrible but my point is more that mainland China knows better than to use their newfound power in a way that hurts Hong Kong economically. The Chinese government is evil but not stupid.

There not stupid per say, but they are pridefull, that if anything is china's one main weakness, and it's that pride that does and has lead them to do stupid things,

It's worth noting China is a goverment of yes men, its a single party state where your very social status and living standard depends on agreeing with those above you, that crests an inherent weakness in the system that no matter how smart they are, they are not infallible and with only a handful actualy making decisions and no over sight, does make them prone as they have in the past to making rash decisions and actions to save there pride, Hong Kong is currently an embarresment to China, its directly undermines there status on the world stage and China has only ever delt with decent with force and worse is that it has been very successful in stopping decent with force.

Always remember just because some one's smart, dosnt mean they arnt making a mistake, I'd also wager China didn't at all forsee the UK making this move, it is as I said ver surprising and totaly out of left field. Its like pulling the hillbilly attack at a grand chess torny.

I'm often reminded of something Mark twain once said.

The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him.

[Kaleredar]

I suppose it's more wishful thinking than anything, but... Hong Kong shouldn't run from their problems. They should continue to fight them. And the countries offering refuge shouldn't just be doing that, they should be offering up condemnations and economic restrictions on China.

The more ground you cede to dictators and authoritarian states, the more ground they're going to feel like they're owed and the more ground they're willing to take. You can't just feel content at letting people run from their wake; you need to stop their momentum.

Getting rid of the highly educated, older generation of people that remember what not living under China's leadership is probably what China wants for the region. That leaves them with a younger, more impressionable group that wont know anything but what China teaches them.

[Rasulis]

Those are people that were born in HK before July 1, 1997. Technically they are British Commonwealth citizen. HK population has a high level of education. Around 40% of their workforce have University degree. Second only to Singapore I think.

[Logwyn]

Of course it's terrible but my point is more that mainland China knows better than to use their newfound power in a way that hurts Hong Kong economically. The Chinese government is evil but not stupid.

What does the Chinese government do when another city in China stands up and says they want the same economic freedoms as Hong Kong? What is China's reaction to Shenzhen if it stands with Hong Kong?

[PC2]

What does the Chinese government do when another city in China stands up and says they want the same economic freedoms as Hong Kong? What is China's reaction to Shenzhen if it stands with Hong Kong?

Chinese cities such as Shenzen can't disagree with the Chinese government because the top leaders of the city are also a part of the one-party government(well paid yes-men). What they do is silence dissent at the level of 'individuals' which means they never need to silence dissent at the level of cities or provinces. By "silence" I mean they make them disappear.

[Macd123aw]

Chinese Government didn't want to treat these hard working people properly.

The UK would do economically well to deport alot of immigrant welfare recipients in exchange for these people.

I'm not particularly bothered if the Chinese Government suffer from this.

Their disease has helped to decimate the economies of the World.

Consider this reparations.

[Yunru]

If all of the bankers leave, the China is fucked pretty much as they cant launder money any more via Hong Kong.

China currency is wortless in rest of the world. You are not allowed to use it to buy any housing, land, businesses or anything else of economic value with yuan.

Well if every person from Hong Kong leaves and burns down the city after, its defeat for China.

[Mayhem]

IF even 70-80% took up the offer that would make Hong Kong expat's the largest minority group in the UK at the end of the 5 year move. so id hope the government is prepared to make the investment needed to be able to meet that kind of surge in demand on our services and housing market.

Judging by the past few months and years, nope, they fuck this up royally and haven't thought this through at all.

"We're in the midst of a housing crisis, a pandemic, and are going to lose most if not all of our trade deals, any ideas?"

"How about we make it easier for people to live here?"

"That, that, that does nothing for our problems."

"I know, so, what do you think?"

"Yeah, let's do this first and worry about our problems later."

"Brilliant."

[LeGin Tufnel]

It is double standards from UK to whine about anything. HK didn't even have basic freedom of press when it was under UK control, everything published was required to be approved by the Brits. Now they suddenly whine about great HK freedoms when they themselves denied same freedoms to HK population for a century?

US/UK and their puppets in HK are the bad guys here, not China.

Hong Kong has slid from no. 18 in the World Press Freedom Index in 2002 to no. 80 in 2020.

The UK's role in the world changed hugely from 1945 onwards following decolonisation and the decline of the British Empire.

Yes, it's right to criticise the British for our actions in the mid 20th C but, no, Hong Kongers have less freedoms now, post the new security law, than they did in 1997 pre handover.

In short: attempting to justify modern day Chinese repression on the basis of behaviour by the British, 60 years ago, is disingenuous.

[Gaidax]

What does the Chinese government do when another city in China stands up and says they want the same economic freedoms as Hong Kong? What is China's reaction to Shenzhen if it stands with Hong Kong?

They will do the same thing they did in Wuhan and nobody will be the wiser and people there are too street-wise to re-enact another Tiananmen square.

You just don't understand what's going on in China. They can do whatever they want to populace and nobody can do anything to them because China owns half the world. It's like these concentration camps for Uighurs, the whole Coronavirus fiasco and what not - at most they get some mellow resistance and mean angry words from some politicians (quietly said though) - everyone is shaking in their booties because China owns their guts and their supply lines.

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As for this whole 3 mil thing, I highly doubt that people will bait. At the very most I expect maybe 5% will dare do this, the stakes are high there and people are terrorized enough to not play games with China. With this law passed it's the beginning of an end of the whole two systems one country facade.