China condemns Britain's BNO passport policy for HK residents

A Chinese central government spokesperson condemned Britain for accepting citizenship applications from Hong Kong residents holding British National Overseas passports from Sunday.

The UK move, in an attempt to turn a large number of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens, is a blatant offense to China’s sovereignty, said the spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council.

Since last year, the British side, in violation of basic norms governing international relations, has made every effort to obstruct the formulation and implementation of the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. After its attempt failed, it turned to the BNO issue.

The UK’s actions have seriously violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the spokesperson said.