Opinion | Renewal problems highlight need to give up British passports
Decades-old issues resurface as renewal problems highlight anomaly for HK residents
The century and a half of British administration bequeathed many good things to this cosmopolitan Chinese city, such as the legal system, respect for the rule of law, and dedication to free trade.
But there were also some pretty shameful aspects, and I don't mean only the opium wars, that gave rise to the founding of the colony in the first place. One of these has just come back to bite everyone a second time.
That episode was the change to British nationality legislation that stripped Hongkongers of their right to live in the United Kingdom from 1981. Hitherto, British people could land in Hong Kong - or any other colony - as I did in 1972, and start work immediately. Residents of the colonies had a reciprocal right.
The effect of the change was that people had only the right to live in their own colony, while the British were treated like any other foreigner working in Hong Kong. Although in theory the law was colour-blind and applied to places such as the Falklands and Gibraltar, in practice Hong Kong was the real target, with an eye to what might happen as 1997 neared.
Once the transition here had gone through smoothly, the Falklands and Gibraltar situations were quietly reversed.
So Hongkongers became British Dependent Territory citizens and then "British Nationals (Overseas)". And the infamous BN(O) passports came into being.
