The U.K. has terrible weather. Taxes are high, job prospects scarce, and the people aren’t all that friendly. Moving there could also put your Chinese citizenship at risk.
At least that is how things are being portrayed in China-friendly Hong Kong newspaper editorials and online chat rooms, and by senior officials in Hong Kong. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last July the U.K. would open a gateway to people to become British citizens, so began the drum beat as to why relocating would be a poor decision.
In recent weeks as the window opened for holders of British National (Overseas) passports to gain long-term visas — the first step toward citizenship — that rhetoric has darkened to include threats that Hong Kongers who apply could end up stateless.