CONFIDENTIAL
2.
It would be interpreted as a weakening of Britain's ties with Hong Kong. This could possibly damage business confi- dence in the Territory and would certainly harm UK/Hong Kong relations.
c) members of the Legislative Council of the Falkland Islands have expressed the view that the Islanders are
overwhelmingly of United Kingdom origin and descent and many of them would retain full right of entry into the United Kingdom; their link with this country are close
historically, economically and socially; they would at no time in the future be able to sustain or defend any nationality separate to or independent of their United Kingdom connection; that connection is under threat and a proposed alteration.
in their status would lead to a loss of confidence, which would result in emigration and a weakening of their (and our) position vis-à-vis the Argentine.
Comment has not been made by all the other dependent
territories but such comment as there has been does not indicate a strong depth of feeling. We believe that the implications of the proposed new nationality status have not been fully considered by all the dependencies, whose comments on the Green
Paper were not specifically sought.
CONFIDENTIAL