HONG KONG (Reuters) – The Hong Kong government on Thursday confirmed a Reuters report that it has told 14 countries to stop accepting a British travel document that many of its young people use to apply for work holiday visas in Europe, America North and parts of Asia.
In a move seen by some as a diplomatic affront, the government informed foreign consulates in a letter that it no longer considered the British National Overseas Passport (NBO) a valid travel document as of January 31.
The letter, seen by Reuters and confirmed by the Hong Kong government after the story was published, called for the use of his Hong Kong passport instead.
A diplomatic row erupted over the NBO in January, after the United Kingdom introduced a new visa system that provides a path to full citizenship for citizens wishing to leave China-led territory.
Britain launched the scheme after Hong Kong passed a comprehensive law on national security last year, which critics say is dissenting in the former British colony.
“The Hong Kong government does not have the authority to dictate which passports foreign governments recognize are valid,” a spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
“The UK will continue to issue passports to British (overseas) citizens who remain valid travel documents.”
Nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents own or are eligible for the NBO document that was created before the UK handed over the city to the Chinese in 1997.
Hong Kong has also begun to mirror mainland China by not recognizing dual nationality, preventing foreign diplomats from visiting locals with foreign passports in detention for the first time.
“Most countries will ignore this,” said an elderly Western diplomat who saw the letter.
“The Hong Kong government is just trying … They have no right to tell any state what foreign passports they can recognize.”
Another envoy described the move as “neighboring the belligerent” and said it was not the way the Hong Kong government, generally aware of the city’s position as an international financial center, has traditionally behaved.
LEGISLATION
In a statement to Reuters, the Hong Kong government said: “Participants in the Hong Kong working holiday scheme should be limited to holders of the HKSAR passport,” referring to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region document.
“The HKSAR government has officially notified the 14 partner countries that have signed working holiday agreements with Hong Kong.”
A Hong Kong government website lists Japan, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland and Australia among the countries covered by the scheme.
Officials in Japan, South Korea, Italy, Sweden and New Zealand confirmed to Reuters that they still recognize the BNO visa passport. South Korea’s foreign ministry added that it had not received the letter, while Hungary said it had begun and begun talks to change the working holiday schedule.
Other nations, including the United States, Finland and Norway, also offer similar arrangements or student exchanges for Hong Kongers and have accepted the NBO from applicants.
It is not known if the United States also received the letter, but a State Department spokesman told Reuters that the NBO remained valid for visa issuance and travel to the United States.
Hong Kong’s moves against the NBO followed an announcement by the British government that its new visa could attract more than 300,000 people and their dependents.
London has said it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong under the national security law, which allows suspects in serious cases to cross the border and be tried in mainland Chinese courts.
Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong say legislation is needed to bring stability to the city after anti-government protests erupted in 2019.
The UK scheme allows those with BNO status to live, study and work in the UK for five years and eventually apply for citizenship.
Beijing has said it will make them second-class citizens, a line propagated by pro-Beijing media commentators in Hong Kong.
Britain restored Chinese rule to its former colony in 1997, guaranteeing its fundamental freedoms, extended autonomy and capitalist way of life that would be protected.
Reporting by Greg Torode and Anne Marie Roantree in Hong Kong, additional reporting by Krisztina Than in Hungary, Antoni Slodkowski in Tokyo, Hyonhee Shin in South Korea, Praveen Menon in New Zealand, Simon Johnson in Sweden, Guy Faulconbridge in London and Crispian Balmer in Italy; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore, Hugh Lawson and Alison Williams