Opinion | Hongkongers should learn from how Britain treated the Gurkhas

Britain’s sudden interest in Hongkongers’ welfare is not about democracy or rights, but about securing a post-Brexit workforce and destabilising China

If the British can treat the Gurkhas – their loyal fighting friends of over 200 years – with cruelty and apathy, how do you think they will treat Hongkongers?

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Captain Lachiman Gurung, a Gurkha who received the Victoria Cross, the British army’s highest honour, marks Veterans Day in London. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:00pm, 11 Jul 2021Updated: 1:00pm, 11 Jul 2021

Britain’s recently adopted policy to grant Hongkongers with British National (Overseas) passports a pathway to citizenship in the UK seems to be a pretty generous offer. Indeed, many Hongkongers have already taken advantage of it.

But there’s also something puzzling about this policy: it is the most interest the British have shown in Hong Kong’s internal affairs since they handed the city back to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

One wonders, why the sudden change of heart? After all, the British ruled Hong Kong for more than 150 years before the handover.

The explanation given by the British government for the BN(O) scheme was familiar. Under Chinese rule – so the British claimed – democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and press freedom had all eroded drastically, creating an unsafe environment for Hongkongers.

This “explanation” mystified me. What part of Hong Kong were they talking about, I wondered.

I have been living in Hong Kong since 1980 yet, despite not coming from mainstream society, I have never felt my freedom or rights were ever in danger.

And as for democracy, Hong Kong has never been one, even under the British. You cannot take away things that do not exist.