Up to 3 million Hong Kong residents are to be offered to settle in the UK (EDITED BY HQ)

It's true we are a small country but a small country that has in the past caused a great deal of division and conflict around the world. Now we have to pick up the pieces.
We have a duty of care.

At the moment the U.K. is home to more than 110,000 people from HK.
They tend to be more geographically dispersed than other migrants but most are in London and the southeast.
There is an alliance called the Five Eyes security alliance that includes us, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Taiwan is also offering help. They are all offering refuge so the numbers coming here will not be as many as has been suggested.

Speaking to my DD in Sydney this morning she says that Australia are hoping that many will go there.*
Australia are also ramping up their defence spending to counter China’s rapid build up of it’s military presence in the Pacific area.

All this information has come from the Times and, of course , *my insider informant!

Not sure why GNHQ felt they needed to alter the title.

They will writing the threads for us soon!

I’ve just had a mail from GNHQ saying that they considered the OP to be misleading and the narrative too antagonising!

I am now wondering if the moderators are of the snowflake generation!

It seems that our generation is made of sterner stuff and can adequately deal with any perceived antagonism.

I find this interference a tad irritating, but can live with such silliness.

And they will not “come settle” - dreadful English!

They may “Come AND settle”

I would prefer that you didn't put such a title under my username.

I am getter crosser by the minute perhaps you had better pull the thread as I didn’t write the wretched title.

Shame because there are some good contributions, but there we are.

It would be a shame to stop this thread . It’s such an important topic.
Please rise above it. If you got your GCE in English Language you can feel superior.
We often get our grammar and spelling wrong because we are in a hurry to get our point across or spell check ‘helps’ us.
HQ don’t have that excuse.
I didn’t pick up that there was anything in the title that would have upset anyone.

pamela that is kind.

I have decided it is a new inexperienced moderator and have decided to ignore the silliness.

There has been some good and surprising contributions. Good stuff.

Callistemon

^*3 million Chinese to come to live in the UK*^
That's today's headline or would be

So it's not today's headline then?


Not ever likely to be

Agreed Callistemon

The trouble is Whitewave that with so much fake news and misleading info around, HQ want to make sure that nobody really thinks that 3 million Hong Kong residents are winging their way at this moment to the UK.Factually, it isn’t a headline.
Other than that, it’s alright.?

Dreadful editing of title by HQ - stands out like a sore thumb!

I think they totally misread Whitewave's political point.

lemon Hmm, it would have been more polite to have contacted me first, but there you are.
I attribute GNers with more intelligence. If you read my OP it makes it clear that it ISNT the news headline, only that it would have been if it was being written by Johnson, Farage ect.

Smacked bums all around!!?

I find this interference a tad irritating, but can live with such silliness.

But can you live with such bad grammar?

??

It didn't occur to me at the time of reading the title, but I suppose it could be seen as slightly misleading, in that 3m. might be entitled to come but it is unlikely that all 3m will come. As others have said, they may well be attracted to other countries that are willing to offer them residence, eg Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc.

It's happened before. Do you remember when the Brexit campaign warned that virtually the whole of the Turkish population was likely to descend upon Britain if we remained in the EU?

Unfortunately some people on Gransnet and elsewhere will be working themselves up into a state of hysteria around the Hong Kong issue and will no doubt communicate that sense of hysteria to others, so possibly that's why the heading was altered.

I see they’ve changed the title again ???.

Getting a bit daft to say the least!

They still fail to understand the point of the thread though, and the title they have put up actually makes my so called antagonistic post worse.

They will pull this - mark my words.

eleothan that was the point of my OP. Pointing out the ridiculousness of it.

I think even you would attribute greater intelligence to gnetters.

Perhaps if GNHQ would like to re write my OP it would begin to make more sense in regard the heading.

But if course then they would have to re write many of the replies as well.

i didn't quite understand the original title.
i assumed it was a typo. but read it anyway as interested in the hong kong subject.
have just heard an interesting piece on radio 4, re a proposal by a HK property developer to create new charter cities in other countries, which will be half HK people and half locals.
they are looking at a few countries, and their first choice is Ireland. they have had talks with irish govt, and were due to visit 6 poss sites in feb. then covid struck. so they hope to go view, discuss further sometime soon.
they would be complete cities in undeveloped areas, creating jobs, opportunities etc. he mentioned offices, private schools, hospitals, housing etc.
the irish like the idea, and they want to grow their population by one million.
uk would not fit the criteria for the charter cities, as they want to be in the EU. as well as english speaking, democratic, common law.

Unless the rules are changed, it looks like Hong Kongers aged between 18-23 are not eligible for residency/citizenship in the UK under current proposals. Too old to be a dependant, too young to qualify for BNO status.

They are the ones most likely to be have been involved in the protests and will be left like sitting ducks.

his name is Ivan Ko.

welbeck that is interesting, but something I’ve never heard of. I need to read more about it before I can make an intelligent reply?

What I have been reading is that the change in the governments attitude to the Hong Kongers is not quite so simple as it looks.

There is apparently a lot of Tory back benchers who are very against further close links with China, and in particular the Huewai link. This group has strength in numbers and a rebellion is threatened, which is why the government appears to be hardening its stance.

I think that the invitation to the Hong kongers was a calculated risk in the knowledge that the vast majority of them will choose to settle elsewhere like Canada or Australia and Taiwan.

Stuff from Kuenssberg

growstuff

Unless the rules are changed, it looks like Hong Kongers aged between 18-23 are not eligible for residency/citizenship in the UK under current proposals. Too old to be a dependant, too young to qualify for BNO status.

They are the ones most likely to be have been involved in the protests and will be left like sitting ducks.

Those who were born after 1st July 1997, presumably and who are over 18.
What would happen if they are 17 or younger and come here with parents- would they then be deported on reaching 18?
It has happened to others, despite protests.

New Zealand is a popular destination

www.finews.asia/high-end/32117-property-tycoon-eyes-ireland-to-build-new-hong-kong

you can read more about it here.

Thank you welbeck

So if I understand it correctly a charter city is a city built on territorial land - say the U.K., but has its own laws and jurisdiction?

A sort of overseas Hong Kong. It would compose of up to 2 million people living with but separately from the U.K.

It’s low tax low regulation regime would undoubtedly be attractive to business, and eventually become a magnet that challenges London.

Well, tbh, I can see huge problems with the idea, not least whether a new city of 2 million people on this crowded island would be welcome. It’s challenge to existing financial centres would also be an issue together with its legal regime of low regulation and low tax. It is a regime that has so far been rejected by the U.K. government - although with something like that on out doorstep the temptation to follow suit would be enormous and change the British culture.

From my point of view a new city would claim precious land that once again crowds out nature and our dwindling wildlife, something I could countenance.