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6.
These changes were resented in certain quarters in Hong Kong at
the time and allegations were made that they represented a deliberate
distancing of the United Kingdom from Hong Kong.
However, Hong Kong
has been able to live with the situation where its citizens kept the
symbolic status of CUKC while acknowledging that they did not have
automatic right of entry or abode in the UK. About 2.5 million of
the people in Hong Kong are CUKCS.
7. The new Nationality Bill has, however, fanned the flames set alight
by these earlier pieces of legislation. Senior officials and members
of EXCO and LEGCO in Hong Kong appear to have convinced themselves
that the Nationality Bill will change the relationship between the
UK and Hong Kong and they will become 'Second Class Citizens'.
main problem is a psychological one, heightened by 1997.
The
8. Hong Kong wants the status of CUKC to remain with them in the
form of British Citizenship (Hong Kong). This defeats the purpose
of the Bill and is not attainable.
CONFIDENTIAL