6 Grafton Street
London W1
(telephone 01 499 9821)
You also expressed concern at the fact that Hong Kong/
British citizens are not free to work and live in Britain
if they wish to do so. But this misunderstands the nature
of a Hong Kong British passport; such a passport gives
the holder the right to re-enter Hong Kong at any time
to live and work, in the same way as the British passport
of a person who derives UK citizenship from close connection
with the UK entitles the holder at any time to return to
the UK. But there is no reason why such a passport
should give the holder special privileges in respect of
other countries, though in fact Hong Kong-British
citizens do enjoy certain privileges in their ability to
come to Britain to work, as Mr O'Keefe explained in his
reply to your earlier letter.
In your latest letter you revert to your earlier
suggestion that a Working Party should be set up to make
recommendations on policy towards Hong Kong. I do not
however think that there is any need to create a special
body for this purpose since policy towards Hong Kong is
kept constantly under review here in London in close
consultation with the Government of Hong Kong.