The Hong Kong government should require airlines to deny boarding to passengers who seek to return to Hong Kong after using a British passport for a working holiday, Executive Council member Regina Ip has suggested

Such passengers should be required to present another identification document, such as a Hong Kong ID card or Hong Kong passport, before being allowed to board, the Beijing loyalist said.

Speaking on a radio program on Saturday, Ip said that the Hong Kong government had already made clear that it would not recognize the British National (Overseas) passport as a valid travel document, so if Hong Kong applicants use this passport for their working holiday visa applications, it would be justified for the government to require airlines to take this step.

The Hong Kong government has asked the 14 countries with which it has working holiday agreements to stop accepting the BN(O) passport for visa applications, and to only accept the Hong Kong SAR passport instead, Reuters reported on Thursday.

According to the report, one envoy described the move as “bordering on belligerent.” It was not the way the Hong Kong government has traditionally behaved, the diplomat added.

Ip said that the international community’s criticisms of Hong Kong’s human rights situation was just an excuse, adding that the only reason was to prevent China becoming more powerful than the United States.

One senior Western diplomat said most countries will ignore the request, as the Hong Kong government has no right to tell other states what foreign passports they can recognize.

The move came after the British government launched a new visa scheme for BN(O) passport holders in January, offering hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents a pathway to U.K. citizenship.

In response, the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong governments stopped recognizing the special passport as a valid travel document and a valid form of identification.

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