Following the British prime minister’s announcement to open the country’s doors to 3 million Hong Kong citizens, Canada’s deputy prime minister also expressed that 300,000 Canadian citizens living in Hong Kong are welcome to come home.
On June 3rd, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said at the press conference: “There are roughly 300,000 Canadians currently living in Hong Kong. All of those people are Canadian, and of course, dear Canadians living in Hong Kong, you are very, very welcome to come home anytime.” Chrystia Freeland also mentioned: “Canada continues to be a country that welcomes immigrants and asylum seekers from around the world.” Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship, Marco Mendicino also expressed that Canadians in Hong Kong are welcome to come home.
Researcher on China Issues, Xue Chi said: “Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city, and Hong Kong is linked to the interests of all major countries in the world. The CCP’s current push of the National Security Law has put itself on the opposite side of the world, which is why the international landscape is rapidly evolving.”
On the same day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the CCP’s push for the Hong Kong National Security Law, which severely undermined Hong Kong’s political and civil liberties. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: “I do think that what is happening now is potentially going to be an infringement of the Sino-UK, China-British agreement which protects political and civic freedoms in Hong Kong. That looks as though it could be very, very badly eroded by what is being proposed.”
Xue Chi: “These all show that the UK, Canada, and a number of other countries around the world are now siding with the US to strike back strongly against China. So the development in this international landscape will be more and more clear in the future. One of their most important driving forces is the CCP’s rash moves, the CCP’s global ambitions. The CCP is now very irrational, and its policies are contradictory.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also published an article in The Times, saying that if China insists on implementing the Hong Kong National Security Law, the UK will revise its immigration policy to provide a route to citizenship for 350,000 British National Overseas Passport holders and 2.5 million Hong Kong residents who are eligible to apply for British passports.
Xue Chi: “What Britain is doing at the moment, opening its doors to three million people in Hong Kong, is just the beginning, as we will see further down the line, that the UK and the US will take some more substantial measures. This change in the UK’s decision-making is very meaningful, and its impact on international society is huge. ”
On the same day, the UK’s Foreign Secretary (Dominic Raab) said in an interview with Sky News, that the UK’s reason for relaxing its immigration policy is because “Britain won’t turn its back on the people of Hong Kong”. He stressed that Britain is willing to sacrifice trade deals with China in order to fulfill its obligations to Hong Kong’s people on principle matters involving morality and its international stature.
Former Reporter of the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army Daily, Jiang Lin: “Of course the UK has intricate ties with Hong Kong, so it should be said that its feelings towards Hong Kong have historical roots. This matter on one hand reflected both their shared values, and on the other hand, reflected Hong Kong residents’ high civil status. Both from the economy and from their protests against the extradition bill over the past year, Hong Kong residents have shown very good manners, and the manners they have shown has been seen and admired by the world.”
Former Reporter of the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army Daily, Jiang Lin expressed, that while some Hong Kong people might emigrate, others have expressed their desire to fight against the CCP’s totalitarian regime till the end.
Jiang Lin: “For example, Apple Daily’s founder Jimmy Lai, said that he is resolute, that he would never leave, that he would remain in Hong Kong and stand with the Hong Kong people, to fight a resolute fight against the CCP’s totalitarian regime. There are some people like that, and they are also quite admirable.”
Jiang Lin also criticized that the CCP’s push for the Hong Kong National Security Law undermined the “One Country, Two Systems” policy in Hong Kong. Jiang Lin: “The legislative process of this law itself has violated Hong Kong’s Basic Law. It was decided by the Central Government alone and not by the people of Hong Kong, which has undermined HK’s “One Country, Two Systems” principle, and HK’s principle of a high degree of autonomy. If it (the CCP) is bent on going down this route, the opposition from HK people will not be resolved at all, it will only get worse.”
UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed that the UK is currently in discussion with members of the “Five Eyes Alliance”, including the US and Australia. The UK will negotiate further countermeasures with its allies if the CCP insists on promulgating the Hong Kong National Security Law.
