London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

BN(O) visa retaliation, election overhaul ‘discussed at standing committee meeting’

BN(O) visa retaliation, election overhaul ‘discussed at standing committee meeting’

While the measures were not formally deliberated, they were addressed by officials on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee session.

Top Beijing officials have discussed proportionate ways to retaliate against London’s new pathway for Hong Kong residents to acquire British citizenship, as well as overhauling the city’s electoral system ahead of its next leadership race in 2022, the Post has learned.

The revelation came as China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), concluded a three-day meeting in Beijing on Friday without formally deliberating or deciding on any Hong Kong issues.

According to Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the NPCSC, the standing committee endorsed a series of mainland bills, including legislation on animal quarantine and marine police, as well as a resolution on establishing a financial court in the capital.

“I have not heard about the central government’s plan to take drastic actions on Hong Kong people’s nationality issue … I think Beijing will be very careful about the issue, and tackle it step-by-step after considering various factors,” he said.

Tam added that he did not want to speculate on what action Beijing could take.


Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.


Last week, the Post reported exclusively that Beijing was mulling whether to ban British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong from public office in retaliation over London’s decision to offer them a visa with a path to the right of abode.

Officials were divided, however, on whether they should also call for the more drastic step of denying those with BN(O) status the right to vote in the city.

A mainland source said while there was no official report about delegates deliberating on any Hong Kong issue, top officials had discussed the city’s situation on the sidelines of the NPCSC meeting, which kicked off on Wednesday. Those mainland officials represented bodies such as the standing committee, the NPC’s Legislative Affairs Commission, Basic Law Committee, Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and Beijing’s Hong Kong liaison office.

The source also said Beijing would include both the BN(O) issue and Hong Kong’s electoral shake-up as one package to be scrutinised at the NPC’s plenary session in March, as it could involve amending the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

“The key is to strike a good balance. The shake-up will not bring too many changes to the life of the average Hong Kong person, especially for travelling, but bring politics in Hong Kong back on the right track,” he said.

The plenary session will start on March 5, with scrutiny of China’s 14th five-year plan its major task.

Last month, sources told the Post that Beijing was planning a drastic revamp of Hong Kong’s 1,200-member Election Committee by abolishing all 117 seats likely to be taken up by opposition district councillors to quash their influence in the 2022 leadership race.

Tam said if the Hong Kong government faced issues it could not handle, it could ask the standing committee for help. But Hong Kong authorities had yet to make such requests, he noted.

Asked if it was legitimate for Beijing to take the initiative to reform Hong Kong’s electoral system, Tam pointed to a commentary published by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on January 12.

The commentary, titled “Hong Kong elections must not become tools of anti-China forces”, said a “comprehensive and strong barrier must be established to deprive anti-China activists of the opportunities to usurp the governing power of Hong Kong”.

Tam said the commentary reflected Beijing’s determination to reform the city’s political system.

“It mentioned what are the problems with the election, and when Beijing says something needs to be done, it will get it done,” he warned.

Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, a semi-official think tank, said the central government needed to take action to amend laws governing the election of the chief executive and lawmakers because Legco could not do the job.

Under the Basic Law, electoral reform packages require a two-thirds majority in the legislature, or the support of 47 lawmakers, to be approved. But after the mass resignation of opposition legislators last year, there are only 43 lawmakers left, he noted.


A National People’s Congress Standing Committee meeting last year, presided over by chairman Li Zhanshu (left).


Tam also said that all 36 Hong Kong deputies to the NPC had signed a joint letter for NPC chairman Li Zhanshu, China’s third-ranking state leader, asking Beijing to provide mainland vaccines to help Hong Kong to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Hong Kong has reached purchase agreements for three vaccines, procuring 7.5 million doses of each type.

Aside from the Pfizer-BioNTech jabs, supplied by mainland firm Fosun Pharmaceutical, the city has also procured Beijing-based Sinovac’s vaccine and one jointly developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×