After The Sino-British Joint Declaration
Negotiation concerning the future of Hong Kong started in the late 1970s between Britain and the PRC. With the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on 19 December 1984, the future of Hong Kong was set, with the PRC to assume sovereignty of the entire territory of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997.
At that time, there were some 3.5 million residents of Hong Kong with BDTC status by virtue of their connection with Hong Kong. Another 2 million were believed to have been eligible to apply to become BDTCs. After the handover, they would have lost this status and became solely PRC citizens. At the time, Hong Kong was the largest of the remaining British dependent territories with over 5 million inhabitants.
Read more about this topic: British Nationality Law And Hong Kong
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