CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND NOTE
FUTURE OF HONG KONG
1.
The Secretary of State raised the subject of confidence
in the future of Hong Kong during talks with Foreign Minister
Huang Hua and Party Vice-Chairman Deng Xiaoping. Both firmly
reiterated past assurances, first made by Deng to the Governor
of Hong Kong in Peking in 1979, that investors in Hong Kong
'should put their hearts at ease'.
NATIONALITY BILL
2.
The Hong Kong Government, and particularly the Unofficial
Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (UMELCO), have
been concerned, since the publication of the original Green
Paper, about the effect of the proposed Bill on Hong Kong.
It has been interpreted in some quarters as an attempt to distance
the United Kingdom from Hong Kong and evade the United Kingdom's
responsibility for its population.
3.
Amendments have been tabled that go some way to allaying
Hong Kong's fears. They will permit the registration of Citizens
of British Dependent Territories (CBDTs) with 5 years' legal
residence in the United Kingdom as British Citizens, and will
permit the Home Secretary to register as a British Citizen a
person who has been in Crown Service under the Government of a
Dependent Territory or has been appointed by or on behalf of the
Crown to certain forms of service in a dependency.
4.
Nomenclature, however, remains a problem. UMELCO contest
the Home Office view that it would be impractical to adopt the
CONFIDENTIAL
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