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Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#41

Post by derision »

entropea wrote: post #34
nieksand wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advocating for Hong Kong independence can also earn you a life sentence: "Crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison" I'm not sure if criticizing Chairman Xi or the CCP would qualify as subversion.

Aren't there also similar laws like that in USA? People are being recommended life sentences for throwing a molotov at an empty police vehicle during these George Floyd protests and are being labeled as terrorists by Trump. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/us/brooklyn-molotov-lawyers-p...

Good. I don't care if it's a police car or someone's personal car or an empty cardboard box. If you're throwing around molotov cocktails you should go to jail.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#42

Post by enaaem »

sct202 wrote: post #25

It's interesting to see how proactive a lot of developed countries are being with getting ready to welcome refugees from Hong Kong, especially compared to the Syrian crisis a few years ago.

Generally speaking, more people = more power. But you need people who integrate well and won’t cause trouble, and will be net contributors to the welfare system. Hong Kong people are likely a very safe bet.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#43

Post by crobertsbmw »

eggsnbacon1 wrote: post #31
sct202 wrote: post #25

It's interesting to see how proactive a lot of developed countries are being with getting ready to welcome refugees from Hong Kong, especially compared to the Syrian crisis a few years ago.

Hong Kong was a British colony for generations and is still strongly influenced by western culture. Probably why China has such an obsession with crushing it. Adopting HK citizens is a far easier sell than Syrians. They already speak English, are highly educated, wealthy, westernized, and have special status in UK law. Letting a ton of refugees in is a large burden on the host country. They don't share British cultur…

After reading Open Borders by Bryan Cahlan, I’m convinced that if there is a burden on the host country it’s temporary. Long term, I think the host country has much more to gain than to lose.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#44

Post by swarnie_ »

daemin wrote: post #40

I would have said that returning Hong Kong back to China was one of the biggest mistakes the UK has made, but here we are in 2020. It would have been better if they made it into an independent city state like Singapore.

If you don't return something at the end of a contract is that theft? or piracy?

Its not like the UK had a choice. We're you expecting them to go all Hawaii on the situation and just annex it?

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#45

Post by nieksand »

entropea wrote: post #34
nieksand wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advocating for Hong Kong independence can also earn you a life sentence: "Crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison" I'm not sure if criticizing Chairman Xi or the CCP would qualify as subversion.

Aren't there also similar laws like that in USA? People are being recommended life sentences for throwing a molotov at an empty police vehicle during these George Floyd protests and are being labeled as terrorists by Trump. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/us/brooklyn-molotov-lawyers-p...

No.

You are free to criticize the government all you want.

You can also advocate for independence without fear of imprisonment. Both California and Texas have supporters of succession.

You aren't free to blow up police cars though. For that you'll face consequences.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#46

Post by Ritsuko_akagi »

> About 350,000 UK passport holders, and 2.6 million others eligible, will be able to come to the UK for five years.

Hong kong has a population of over 7 mil so this is less than half. What's the criteria for this chance at a uk citizenship?

I found a good video about the special passports given to hong kong from the uk. It is a bit complicated but this video seems to summarise the important bits quite well.[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP9XB3JIa0o

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#47

Post by swarnie_ »

thewindow wrote: post #39
sct202 wrote: post #25

It's interesting to see how proactive a lot of developed countries are being with getting ready to welcome refugees from Hong Kong, especially compared to the Syrian crisis a few years ago.

One important reason is money. These people are going to be relatively well off or rich.

Pretty much this. In an economic migrate face-off between HK and sub-Saharan Africans we only get one winner.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#48

Post by michaelt »

akerro wrote: post #5

Is this an attempt to fill immigration gaps after EU immigration collapses? I don't believe the government actually cares about anything that going on in HK.

It's not obviously about replacing EU immigration. Hong Kong a higher GDP per capita than the UK - and about four times the GDP per capita of the eastern European countries that provide so many workers to British farms and warehouses.

Britain's motivation is they contend that this is a violation of the treaty between Britain and China from the handover of Hong Kong [1], and letting one other country violate your treaties with impunity makes other countries think they can get away with the same thing.

But at the same time there's also no appetite in Britain to go head-to-head with China - in fact, if the HK stuff wasn't going on they'd be looking for a trade deal right now.

So if you see something that's a response, but not a really tough muscular response, that's exactly what the UK government is aiming for.

[1] https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-hongkong-protests-britain/...

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#49

Post by 9nGQluzmnq3M »

daemin wrote: post #40

I would have said that returning Hong Kong back to China was one of the biggest mistakes the UK has made, but here we are in 2020. It would have been better if they made it into an independent city state like Singapore.

The UK didn't have much of choice. Their lease on the New Territories (basically all of HK except Kowloon and the Island) expired in 1997, so that was going back to China regardless, and they concluded that HK was not viable without it.

Re: Hong Kong: UK makes citizenship offer to residents

#50

Post by woodpanel »

entropea wrote: post #34
nieksand wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advocating for Hong Kong independence can also earn you a life sentence: "Crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison" I'm not sure if criticizing Chairman Xi or the CCP would qualify as subversion.

Aren't there also similar laws like that in USA? People are being recommended life sentences for throwing a molotov at an empty police vehicle during these George Floyd protests and are being labeled as terrorists by Trump. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/17/us/brooklyn-molotov-lawyers-p...

No, as for the US there is still a difference what Leadership tweets or gaffes into a microphone and what becomes law or passes judicial review.

This stands in contrast to these "kickers" since they are already Chinese law – and let's not even start comparing Beijings supreme court with that of the US…

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