HONG KONG – Hong Kong Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng said on Saturday that Britain had no rights over the city as per the joint declaration that contained the blueprint for the administration of the former colony after its reunification with China in 1997.
She made the comments in a blog on the eve of changes made to Britain’s visa application programme allowing Hong Kong residents having a British National Overseas (BNO) passport to live, study and work in the UK for five years and gradually apply for citizenship.
Cheng quoted former Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong, Xie Feng, as saying “the UK has no sovereignty, jurisdiction or right of ‘supervision’ over Hong Kong whatsoever after the latter returned to China” as per the Joint Declaration.
Both Beijing as well as the Hong Kong government have slammed the visa change saying they would no longer recognise the BNO passport as a valid travel document from Sunday.