News / Foreign Policy

Boris Johnson escalates interventionist policy in Hong Kong

Wednesday, 03 June 2020 6:06 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 03 June 2020 6:06 PM ]

Despite the positive optics Boris Johnson has decided to escalate tensions with China over Hong Kong

After weeks of posturing by the British government, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has come out to publicly endorse the plan to grant British citizenship to potentially millions of HongKongers.

Writing in the Times newspaper today, the PM pledged that the UK will meet its “obligations” on Hong Kong.

Johnson’s strident position, as expressed in today’s commentary, comes in the wake of plans by the British government to intervene even more forcefully in Hong Kong.

Only five days ago the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, announced that the UK was considering giving British National (Overseas) or BNO passport holders in Hong Kong a path to full British citizenship.

Britons support government's aggressive policy on Hong Kong

According to an opinion poll the British people are broadly in favor of government plans to grant British citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents.

There are believed to be around 300,000 passport holders in Hong Kong. But since Raab’s announcement multiple messaging from the government appears to indicate the UK is prepared to potentially grant British citizenship to millions more Hong Kong residents.

That extraordinary position now appears to have the backing of the PM, as expressed in his commentary in the Times.

The British government escalated its interventionist policy in Hong Kong after the Chinese Parliament approved a new national security law which would enable Beijing to directly apply anti-sedition powers to the special administrative region.

The move by the Chinese National People’s Congress came after more than a year of intermittent violent protests in Hong Kong aimed at undermining Beijing’s sovereignty over the former British colony.

China warns Britain to stay out of Hong Kong riots

China has warned Britain to stay out of its internal affairs after British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab called for an independent investigation into the recent riots.

Johnson has come under increasing pressure in recent months by an anti-China faction in the ruling Conservative party to downgrade ties with Beijing.

Tories establish anti-China parliamentary group

A group of Tory MPs have escalated their propaganda war against China by creating a phoney "research" group to supposedly study the rise of China as a superpower.

The intense lobbying by the anti-China faction in the Tory party is believed to have played a part in Johnson’s decision to cancel the Chinese technology giant Huawei’s contribution to the development of Britain’s 5G network.