64. From the point of view of the majority of the Hong Kong population it is relevant to point out that divorce by consent is a feature of the law of China (where it is subject to judicially applied safeguards and must be registered), of Taiwan (where it is still purely a private affair of the parties, save that it is registrable), and that it will again be a feature of the law of Singapore, where legislation was recently introduced to re-establish divorce by consent in respect of Chinese marriages. It is also perhaps worth noting that divorce by consent already exists in a number of predominantly Christian countries, and it is highly likely, as public opinion in- creasingly rejects the abuses and disadvantages involved in the bringing of collusive or fictitious suits (with all the disrepute for the law that they involve) that consensual divorce will spread to other countries. Indeed, proposals for divorce by consent have been several times before the United Kingdom Parliament, and it would appear that they are gaining ground. It can scarcely be argued that divorce by consent is now still so alien a concept to the Western residents of Hong Kong that its introduction in respect of them is unthinkable, and there seems to be no reason why it should be regarded as offensive to the majority of non-Chinese inhabitants.
65. The Sub-Committee further feels that such a development could not in reality be detrimental to the strictly sectarian interests of the Christian community, since, inasmuch as such dissolutions would be based on consent, it is axiomatic that so long as the parties to a marriage adhered to a religious confession, they would be able to withhold their consent from any dissolution of their marriage which would violate the tenets of that confession.
66. In this connection the Sub-Committee would also draw attention to the desirability of introducing to the law of Hong Kong in respect of all marriages of the concept of "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage" as a basis of divorce without any matrimonial offence, which seems likely in the near future to be the sole criterion for dissolution of marriages in England.
67. Once again, too, the Sub-Committee would draw attention to the undesirability of framing any legislation in a way that would involve discrimination along racial lines. This is particularly true
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