Letters | Greater Bay Area or Great Britain: how to push Hongkongers in the right direction

The recent controversy over British National (Overseas) passports is a continuation of the political tussles between Britain and China that began with the signing of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

After governor Murray MacLehose met Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979, the British government changed its nationality act in 1981 to avoid an influx of refugees from its soon to be former colony: Hongkongers became British Dependent Territories Citizens, and later came to hold BN(O) passports.

The issue stole the international limelight in 1989 when legislator Lee Wing-tat scolded then British foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe, taking offence at Britain’s neglect of its moral responsibility to the people of Hong Kong. The Chinese side placidly dismissed the BN(O) passport as merely a travel document.

Throughout the Sino-British negotiations, the people of Hong Kong were mere onlookers. Then came wave after wave of emigration to countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia, and to Europe. But Hong Kong survived and prospered and since then, Britain has had a change of heart, offering Hongkongers a new citizenship route in response to the new national security law.

This kills two birds with one stone. Britain gains the moral high ground in providing an exit for Hongkongers while making an estimated net gain of billions of dollars amid the economic uncertainty of Brexit. It is perfect timing.