The UK government has disclosed that more Hong Kong citizens are renewing their British National (Overseas) passports.
At 22,022, the number of BNO passport renewals last year dwarfed the 7,654 in the year before CY Leung took office, reports the SCMP.
The figure has been steadily increasing ever since CY Leung became the chief executive, with the rate of renewals increasing by 40 percent each year since his election.
It’s like the reverse of his approval rating.
The statistics show BNO passport renewals in Hong Kong are now at their highest rate in eight years.
Chairman of the Democratic Party Martin Lee put forward the idea that discontent with the current government is driving the trend.
He added that the increase “would be consistent with the public perception that more people want to leave Hong Kong for good for the way the Chinese government has been handling Hong Kong.”
However, Chinese University political scientist Ivan Choy Chi-keung said the surge might just be a case of many passports reaching their expiry date this year.
The special passport works much like a British passport when traveling, but it does not grant the holder permission to stay in the United Kingdom…. awww schucks… looks like we’re stuck here.
Among the seven million Hong Kong residents, about half have a BNO passport.
Photo: Neil Turner via Flickr
