The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) strongly condemns and resolutely opposes the British government's violation of its international commitments by offering the so-called British National Overseas (BNO) passport and visa policy to Hong Kong residents, the office said in a statement on Sunday.

The UK government has breached trust and justice and violated the Sino-British agreement on Hong Kong, manipulated the BNO under the pretext of Hong Kong's national security legislation, and repeatedly expanded its scope of application, which has completely changed the original nature of the BNO between China and the UK, the statement stressed.

The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of China's State Council on Sunday also issued a statement condemning the UK for betraying trust by further expanding the scope of the BNO passport. "This is a blatant affront to China's sovereignty and we firmly oppose it," the statement said. 

China will no longer recognize the so-called BNO passport as a travel document and ID document from Sunday (January 31), and reserves the right to take further actions. The HKSAR government also announced that it will follow up on national countermeasures in dealing with BNO.

Read more:

China to stop recognizing BNO passport as a travel, ID document

Backgrounder: What is the BNO passport?