Fear of retaliation from Beijing spurred Britain to give Hongkongers visa-free access, newly declassified documents show

Britain decided to grant visa-free access to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport holders after the 1997 handover, partly because it feared not doing sowould spark retaliation from Beijing.Newly declassified files show the British government was concerned its citizens would end up needing a visa to enter Hong Kong.The warning was sounded by Home Secretary Michael Howard, and Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, during a cabinet meeting on February 27, 1996.Howard said if visas…

from South China Morning Post https://ift.tt/2ZIHZL5
Gary Cheung Britain decided to grant visa-free access to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) passport holders after the 1997 handover, partly because it feared not doing sowould spark retaliation from Beijing.Newly declassified files show the British government was concerned its citizens would end up needing a visa to enter Hong Kong.The warning was sounded by Home Secretary Michael Howard, and Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, during a cabinet meeting on February 27, 1996.Howard said if visas… https://ift.tt/eA8V8J December 31, 2019 at 02:00AM