泰國當局近日在曼谷廊曼國際機場(Don Mueang International Airport)、素萬那普國際機場(Suvarnabhumi Airport)等5個機場,特別開設「中國護照」專用通道。近日,香港網絡熱傳,泰國機場增設的中國旅客專用VIP通道,手持特區護照的港人被指要與中國客一同使用「VIP通道」,變相真正的「中港融合」。《蘋果》今日(8日)向泰國素萬那普機場了解,獲悉新通道僅適用於需要簽證的中國旅客,早前一直擔心的港人可以鬆一口氣。
作者: :
British National (Overseas) Citizens should be given full British Citizenship.
People in Hong Kong who hold the British National (Overseas) passport are British; however, the British government is refusing and avoiding giving these Hong Kongers the right of abode in the United Kingdom nor in any of the British territories. Many of them were forced to become PROC Chinese.
The Chinese government is ignoring the Sino Anglo Agreements signed in 1981. It could be a disaster if we keep ignoring this is happening. Hong Kongers will come in as political refugees. We will need a lot of effort to house them and bad for the British reputations to the International community then.
作者: :
British National (Overseas) Citizens should be given full British Citizenship.
People in Hong Kong who hold the British National (Overseas) passport are British; however, the British government is refusing and avoiding giving these Hong Kongers the right of abode in the United Kingdom nor in any of the British territories. Many of them were forced to become PROC Chinese.
The Chinese government is ignoring the Sino Anglo Agreements signed in 1981. It could be a disaster if we keep ignoring this is happening. Hong Kongers will come in as political refugees. We will need a lot of effort to house them and bad for the British reputations to the International community then.
英國議會周一歷史上首次舉行BNO平權會議,由香港監察(Hong Kong Watch)贊助人兼英國上議院議員奧爾頓勳爵(Lord Alton of Liverpool)主持。他表示,持有BNO人士屬英國國民,英國有必要履行法律義務,重新審視現行條例,保障英國國民權益。會議吸引不少在英工作或留學的港人參加,他們表示港人對前景已失去信心,BNO平權工作刻不容緩。
該組織主席Benedict Rogers認為,英國政府除有道德義務維持《中英聯合聲明》不走樣,亦有法律義務為BNO持有者提供權利保障,未來會繼續推動相關工作,又引用英國前首相馬卓安一句話總結:「馬卓安在1996年說過,香港永遠不會孤獨前行(Hong Kong will never have to walk alone),現在是時候由我們實踐這諾言。」
作者: :
UK should give British nationality to Hong Kong citizens, Tugendhat says
The UK should give Hong Kong citizens full UK nationality as a means of reassurance amid the current standoff with Beijing, the chair of the influential Commons foreign affairs committee has argued.
Tom Tugendhat said this should have happened to people in the formerly British-ruled territory in 1997, when it was handed back to Chinese control, and that doing so now would reassure Hong Kong’s people that they were supported by the UK.
Hong Kong has been gripped by 10 weeks of large-scale and occasionally violent pro-democracy demonstrations, which have been met by a sometimes brutal police response, and increasingly trenchant threats from Beijing.
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On Monday, two Chinese state media outlets ran video footage showing armoured personnel and troop carriers purportedly driving to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, prompting concerns about military intervention.
Under the so-called “one country, two systems” arrangement that had Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, Beijing considers the population to be Chinese nationals. However, a number of people in the territory hold what is known as a British national (overseas) passport, which gives some rights, for example to stay in the UK for up to six months, but no automatic ability to live permanently or work.
Tugendhat said: “The UK had obligations to Hong Kong citizens before 1997, and the extension of overseas citizenship, which is in many ways a second-tier citizenship, was a mistake, and I think it’s one that should be corrected. At a time when there are clearly tensions in Hong Kong, the UK could reassure many Hong Kong citizens that their existing rights are recognised by the UK, and they are valued.”
He said this was more about giving reassurance to Hong Kong’s people than facing down Chinese threats.
Tugendhat said: “These are still Chinese citizens from the special autonomous region, so I don’t think the Chinese government would see them as anything other than Chinese citizens under a slightly different status. I don’t think that’s the point.
“I think the point is that the UK has got an opportunity to right a wrong, to give confidence to a people that is clearly very nervous about its future, and understandably so, and I think it’s the right thing to do. And I think all those come together now.”
Hong Kong’s airport, a principal regional hub, had flights suspended for a second consecutive day on Tuesday as protesters rallied there.
Carrie Lam, the territory’s beleaguered chief executive – the head of the autonomous government chosen by a limited electorate stacked with pro-Bejing groups – said on Tuesday that continued unrest would “push Hong Kong down a path of no return, will plunge Hong Kong society into a very worrying and dangerous situation”.
Tugendhat, whose committee said in a report in March that increasing mainland Chinese interference in Hong Kong risked seeing the hands-off approach of one country, two systems, replaced by “one country, one-and-a-half systems”, urged restraint.
He said: “I don’t know what the future looks like. I can’t predict it. But what I can say is that a period of calm would be beneficial to everybody. The only way that this is going to be resolved is by political conversation. It’s not going to be resolved by violence on the streets or anything like that.”