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

(117 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Wed 01-Jul-20 13:56:10

That’s today’s headline, or would be if I was a leave campaigner and it was May 2016.

There would be huge posters up showing queues of people into the far distance, with Johnson saying the hoards are coming.

Brexiters complained about how our schools and hospitals would be full of these incomers.

I await the same arguments from these people.

MaizieD Wed 01-Jul-20 13:58:31

Waiting with interest.

GagaJo Wed 01-Jul-20 14:00:05

Hahaha. Yes, funny that.

Whitewavemark2 Wed 01-Jul-20 14:15:51

The astounding thing is that the very same person who warned that millions of Turkish were about to descend on us is now welcoming millions of Chinese.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

ladymuck Wed 01-Jul-20 14:26:52

Just so everyone knows....I've gone right off Boris Johnson after his remark about 'newt-counters'.
He is now opening the doors to millions of Chinese, not to say all those migrants who have made it across the channel, plus now a massive building project.
This country is on the road to destruction.

kircubbin2000 Wed 01-Jul-20 15:14:58

What was the point of brexit I w/o der. Just a way to make him PM?

kircubbin2000 Wed 01-Jul-20 15:15:22

Wonder.

growstuff Wed 01-Jul-20 15:32:21

ladymuck

Just so everyone knows....I've gone right off Boris Johnson after his remark about 'newt-counters'.
He is now opening the doors to millions of Chinese, not to say all those migrants who have made it across the channel, plus now a massive building project.
This country is on the road to destruction.

Well, there's a silver lining to everything!

Welcome to the dark side and the world of people who are called doom mongering lefties! grin

paddyanne Wed 01-Jul-20 15:43:58

I posted this weeks ago and was told these people are British citizens,no problems at all from the usual Brexiteers

Lucca Wed 01-Jul-20 15:46:46

growstuff

ladymuck

Just so everyone knows....I've gone right off Boris Johnson after his remark about 'newt-counters'.
He is now opening the doors to millions of Chinese, not to say all those migrants who have made it across the channel, plus now a massive building project.
This country is on the road to destruction.

Well, there's a silver lining to everything!

Welcome to the dark side and the world of people who are called doom mongering lefties! grin

Doom mongering Marxist loony lefties please

Davidhs Wed 01-Jul-20 15:48:22

China has long wanted to integrate Hong Kong with the mainland and the unrest of the last year has given them an excuse to clamp down on activists who will not accept the reality of the situation.
There are apparently 350,000 that are British Overseas Nationals who have the right to live in the U.K. A lot of those will have businesses in Hong Kong and will stay, nobody is being evicted but there are going to be new rules on free speech.
Many from Hong Kong have already got property and business interests overseas, Western Canada has a large Chinese community as have others in the Pacific area. There will be some who come to the U.K. particularly those that have been in trouble with the authorities.

Doodledog Wed 01-Jul-20 16:36:52

It's not just those who have been in trouble who will come here.

I have personally signed passport ID forms for young people who just want to bring up their families in freedom. These were people I knew when they were students in the UK, so have skills to offer here. I have absolutely no doubt that they will be valuable citizens, and don't understand what the fuss is about.

EllanVannin Wed 01-Jul-20 16:54:59

That's all very well providing that there is accommodation for them ??

grannysyb Wed 01-Jul-20 16:56:32

Exactly Doodledog, when HK was handed over there was a lot of grumbling "they're all going to come here," and in the end an awful lot of them decided that Canada looked a better bet!

silverlining48 Wed 01-Jul-20 17:00:52

There is no way 3 million People from Hong Kong will come here, being active politically does not make them troublemakers.

PamelaJ1 Wed 01-Jul-20 17:10:19

My father was helping people to leave the colony years ago. Many went to Australia, many to Canada and many came here.
They all knew, sadly that they needed to go.

We had to give HK back. I never thought that the Chinese government would keep their word but even if they had it would have come to this at the end of the agreement.

This is all so sad. I very much doubt they will all come here. Many of the older residents will want to live their lives out in the colony. Many of those that come will be wealthy, educated people who will be an asset to our economy. They will appreciate that we are a democracy.

Who knows if they will be allowed to leave.

It seems that many people castigate our country for abandoning our colonial subjects. When we show care and responsibility for them the government are also castigated.

janeainsworth Wed 01-Jul-20 17:22:25

Paddyanne they aren’t British citizens - they just have Overseas British passports which doesn’t give them the right of abode or the right to work in U.K.
I think it was probably a condition of the Sino-British agreement in 1997 (imposed by China) that they wouldn’t be given this right, because China would have ‘lost face’ if thousands of Chinese suddenly left Hongkong to live in UK.

Now that the Chinese have reneged on the agreement by passing this law, it has enabled the British Government to offer the right of abode & ultimately full citizenship to these people.
Having lived & worked in HK for 11 years, I’m very glad that our Government is doing the right thing, and I’m sure any HK residents who come here to live and work will be an asset to our country.

Peardrop50 Wed 01-Jul-20 17:22:26

Happy to welcome all that make a valuable contribution to our society or are vulnerable in theirs. The majority of us Brexiters did not vote to leave the great behemoth of the EU because of immigration.

lemongrove Wed 01-Jul-20 17:29:48

Peardrop50

Happy to welcome all that make a valuable contribution to our society or are vulnerable in theirs. The majority of us Brexiters did not vote to leave the great behemoth of the EU because of immigration.

Absolutely! ??

quizqueen Wed 01-Jul-20 17:34:19

Mr Trump has also said that many people from Hong Kong will be welcome which proves that he and Brexiteers are not racist. These are people who will more than likely be an asset to this country and the USA. What we don't need are freeloaders who will offer our countries nothing.

GagaJo Wed 01-Jul-20 17:37:30

I have a lovely ex student and his family in HK that I hoped would come here. Very sadly not interested in coming to plague island.

GrannyGravy13 Wed 01-Jul-20 17:47:04

Totally correct janeainsworth

China has treated the Hong Kong residents appallingly.

varian Wed 01-Jul-20 17:47:37

Having lived in Hong Kong, we still have many friends there.

Yesterday I received a whatsapp with a photo of some of our friends socialising together in a way we cannot currently do because the pandemic was much better controlled there than it has been here.

Many of our friends do have the right to come to the UK, including British University graduates, but although they may despair about the restriction of human rights imposed on the territory by Beijing, I do not think they will see the UK in its present pathetically weakened state as a better alternative.

merlotgran Wed 01-Jul-20 17:54:15

Well it's their choice, varian but I'd rather take my chances with things as they are here than live in a country with no freedom of speech.

varian Wed 01-Jul-20 17:59:22

Yes, merltgran, but I'm guessing you are not Chinese. My HK friends are very Chinese.