The offer is a response to China's new security law, which means, among other things, that activists who disseminate information in support of independence can be arrested and prosecuted. According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, three million Hong Kong residents will be allowed to move to the UK.
- China strongly condemns this. The British side will have all the consequences, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Thursday, according to The Guardian.
Earlier in the day, China's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Liu Xiaoming, said that all measures to grant residence are a violation of the agreement between the two countries and that China will take "appropriate countermeasures".
"They are clear that all Chinese citizens in Hong Kong are Chinese citizens, whether they have British BNO passports or not," he says.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab later admitted that Britain cannot force China to allow Hong Kong residents to move to the country.