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Hong Kong politics
Hong KongPolitics

Carrie Lam confirms Hong Kong ‘strictly enforcing’ policy of not recognising dual nationality

  • Residents of Chinese descent born in city or on the mainland ‘regarded as Chinese nationals’ no matter what other passports they hold, city leader says
  • Chief executive separately declines to address specifics of choice to proceed without a jury in coming national security law case

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Those holding both Chinese and British citizenship will be treated as only Chinese nationals by Hong Kong, city leader Carrie Lam says. Photo: Bloomberg
Tony CheungandJeffie Lam
Hong Kong does not recognise dual nationality, its chief executive underscored on Tuesday, a day after London warned that ­Chinese-British nationals might not get consular assistance if they entered the city on their British passports.
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said her government was “strictly enforcing” the policy that Hong Kong residents of Chinese descent who were born in the city or on the mainland were ­considered Chinese nationals and therefore not entitled to British consular protection.

“When people have a foreign nationality or right of abode elsewhere … they are [still] regarded as Chinese nationals in Hong Kong,” she told reporters. “They will not be eligible for consular protection, including consular visits, so that is very clear.”

Chief Executive Carrie Lam addresses reporters before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Chief Executive Carrie Lam addresses reporters before her weekly Executive Council meeting on Tuesday. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Lam said that was “a very specific provision” of the 1997 return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, as China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, had issued an explanatory document in May 1996 on the application of the country’s nationality law in the city.

Updated travel advice posted to Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office websites on Monday said the British consulate had been told “that Hong Kong, like other parts of China, does not recognise dual nationality”.

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