Lam: No consular aid for HK dual nationals

HONG KONG • Hong Kongers with dual nationality are not entitled to foreign consular assistance, the city's leader said yesterday, confirming warnings by Western diplomats that the authorities have begun strictly enforcing Chinese nationality rules in the finance hub.

Canada's foreign affairs department said last week that a dual-national in prison in Hong Kong was required to make a declaration choosing a single nationality.

The revelation sent diplomats from Britain, Canada and the United States scrambling, given the potential implications for hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers in the city with dual nationality - and those who travel there for business and tourism.

Yesterday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam confirmed that while residents could own multiple passports, dual nationality was not recognised in Hong Kong under China's nationality law.

That law has a very specific provision that "when people have a foreign nationality or right of abode elsewhere... they are (still) regarded as Chinese nationals in Hong Kong", Mrs Lam said.

"So likewise they will not be eligible for consular protection, including consular visits", unless they have received permission to renounce their Chinese nationality.

Beijing's top law-making body set the rules for implementing nationality in Hong Kong in 1996 - the year before Hong Kong's handover by Britain. As a result, Hong Kong officials describe the move to reject consular assistance for dual nationals as nothing new.

But Western diplomats say there has been a concrete policy change as they previously had no problem visiting dual nationals in custody.

No Hong Kong official, including Mrs Lam, has publicly addressed whether any order has been made to more strictly enforce nationality rules. But on Monday night, Britain's consulate changed its travel advice after it said it had been informed that "Hong Kong, like other parts of China, does not recognise dual nationality".

The consulate warned: "If you have both British and Chinese nationality, you may be treated as a Chinese citizen by local authorities, even if you enter Hong Kong on your British passport.

"If this is the case, the British consulate may not be able to offer you consular assistance."

The apparent change comes as Beijing clashes with Western nations over its crackdown in Hong Kong following 2019's huge and often violent democracy protests.

The change is most likely to affect ethnic Chinese who are dual citizens in Hong Kong.

Last month, Britain began offering extended visas to holders of British National (Overseas) passports, which all Hong Kongers born before the 1997 handover are entitled to. Beijing responded by announcing that it would no longer recognise the passports.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE