Visa hassle for British is fair retaliation
I refer to recent correspondence in these columns about the treatment of British passport holders seeking to obtain a China visit visa at the Lowu border. British Consul, Trevor Adams, in his letter avoids the main contention which is the reason why only British nationals are discriminated against and refused visas whereas other nationals have no difficulty.
The truth about this situation is that China is quite fairly retaliating against an unfair measure imposed on Chinese nationals passing through British airports while in transit to other destinations.
Most countries permit people who are flying to other destinations to transit that country's airports without the need for obtaining visas because such travellers are not entering (for immigration purposes) that particular country, they are merely passing through.
Britain also allows this standard international practice for most nationals but not for Chinese. This poses an enormous inconvenience on bona fide Chinese nationals who are travelling to other destinations but who are obliged to change aircraft at a British airport. They have to go to enormous trouble obtaining a transit visa from the British embassy in China even though they have no intention of entering Britain.
Britain seeks to justify this measure because a small percentage of Chinese visitors while in transit in Britain apply for political asylum. The Home Office, which is responsible for immigration policy, has as usual taken the easy way out of a problem which has ended up punishing the vast majority of innocent Chinese travellers. Its policy has also resulted in the more than justified retaliatory measure imposed by the Chinese authorities on British nationals seeking a China visa at Lowu. The Home Office, however, does not care about the treatment of their own nationals overseas and is only concerned with making life easy for their immigration officers back in Britain.
The British Immigration authorities have always had a racist view when it comes to immigration and I have personally witnessed several occasions over the years when travellers with Chinese features have been singled out for undue attention and interrogation by British immigration officers. Only last year, while travelling from Paris to London by train, I saw two Hong Kong Chinese students questioned for about 10 minutes and required to show endless documentation while immigration officers took only a fleeting glance at everyone else's passports. Even a Swiss couple (who do not have EC rights of entry into Britain) had their passports stamped without question.