A protester held a British National Overseas passport in a shopping mall during a protest against China's national security legislation in Hong Kong on May 29.
Photo: Kin Cheung/Associated PressLONDON—U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain is considering providing a route to British citizenship for nearly three million Hong Kong residents, as the U.K. escalates a standoff with China over its decision to impose a stringent security law on the former British colony.
The Chinese legislature passed a resolution to introduce a security law in Hong Kong that mirrors how mainland Chinese agencies police activities that challenge Communist Party rule. The decision to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature has been heavily criticized by the British government, which signed an agreement in 1984 to ensure that Hong Kong remains autonomous from Beijing, except in matters such as defense.
“Many people in Hong Kong fear their way of life—which China pledged to uphold—is under threat,” Mr. Johnson wrote in an op-ed that appeared Wednesday in the Times newspaper in the U.K. and Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post. “If China proceeds to justify their fears, then Britain could not in good conscience shrug our shoulders and walk away.”
The pledge to radically overhaul British immigration law to try to force China’s hand over Hong Kong is the latest sign of how the once-warm relations between the two governments are now souring. Chinese officials have said the new rules are necessary to quash separatism and foreign interference in Hong Kong, which has been rocked by antigovernment protests since last summer. China has criticized the British reaction to the security law, saying Britain should abandon what Beijing called a Cold War and colonial mentality.
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Currently, 350,000 of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents hold British National Overseas passports, to which people who were citizens of Hong Kong before Britain returned the city to Chinese rule in 1997 are entitled. Mr. Johnson said a further 2.5 million people are eligible to apply for them—adding up to about 40% of Hong Kong’s population. Holders of those passports can visit the U.K. for a period of six months but currently don’t have the automatic right to live or work in the country.
Mr. Johnson said this right could be extended for a renewable period of 12 months and further immigration rights, including the right to work, could be offered. This would pave the way for those passport holders to get U.K. citizenship if they resided in the country for several years.
China has strongly criticized the proposal since Britain first floated the idea last week, and has denied that the security law breached the 1984 agreement with Britain. It has said it reserved the right to take unspecified “corresponding action.”
Asked about the British proposal on Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said some foreign governments had adopted “blatant double standards” regarding China’s security law.
There has been mounting clamor in the U.K.’s ruling Conservative Party for the government to take a tougher line on China, in particular over its handling of Hong Kong and Covid-19. The U.K. government is currently reviewing how the country can become less reliant on Chinese supply chains ranging from medical to telecom equipment.
It is unclear exactly how immigration laws would be changed or if the U.K. would fully open its doors to the 2.8 million Hong Kong residents potentially eligible for a British National Overseas passport. It isn’t currently permitted to hold a British National Overseas passport while holding the nationality of another country. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday that the U.K. had discussed with allies including Australia, Canada and the U.S. the possibility of “burden sharing if we see a mass exodus from Hong Kong.” He didn’t indicate any outcome of the discussions.
Britain’s electorate has proved sensitive to large influxes of migrants in the past. Britain has just left the European Union, in part to curb the flow of European migrants into the country.
“I hope it will not come to this. I still hope that China will remember that responsibilities go hand in glove with strength and leadership,” Mr. Johnson wrote in his article. British officials have said they would wait until they see the published security legislation before taking any action.
Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
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