https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55109523
As violence between Beijing and the Hong Kong protests continue without an end in sight, the UK offers migrants a five year stay and application for permanent residency, starting on January 31. The United Kingdom put out a statement expressing their disdain for Beijing’s actions calling it “an erosion of freedoms and rights”. Some current members of the Hong Konger population living in the UK believe that the new migrants may struggle to find housing and jobs; while others worry that some may be secret agents working for the Chinese government. The Home Office has been encouraged to be mindful of those with criminal records. The organisation expects that the transition will go well with pre-existing Chinese communities in the UK.
I believe that this is a very important and selfless course of action taken by the United Kingdom, choosing to openly house Hong Kong migrants regardless of the possible ramifications that may occur at the hands of Beijing. I think that we can expect a large portion of Hong Kongers to make their way to the UK and apply to have residence there. I hope that the transition is seamless, however with the global pandemic’s isolation properties, there is a chance that it may be more difficult. This welcoming from the UK could very well increase tensions between them and China; as China becomes more aggressive and hostile it is likely that they will not take this lightly.
I think that this event is easily examined by the Liberal perspective, as the UK does not have much to gain through this offer to those struggling in Hong Kong. Other than an increase in diversity, this deal has the potential to do more harm than good. I think that the Collective Security theory is very plausible in this situation, with Britain wanting to maintain security through an alliance of sorts, to discourage growth of China’s presence on the global stage. I also believe that the Democratic Peace theory slightly applies, though there is no war on the horizon, democracies tend to protect and help states that want to become or already are democracies, and I believe that is occurring in this case.