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FCS/81/11
SECRET
HKK 340/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51
9 FEB 1981
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
مالان
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
15
165 22/2
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
1.
HKGD
cc PS.
сс
Chief Clerk My Donald My Adams Hd NTD
Mr Rushford, Legal
see (51
Hong Kong: Attitude to New Nationality Legislation
I
Advisors
seef
8
I understand that you are seeing Sir S Y Chung and Mr
O V Cheung from Hong Kong on 6 February. As you know,
they are in London to put the views of the Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (UMELCO). Their
particular concern is the new Nationality legislation.
myself saw them on 2 February. I thought it would be
helpful to let you know what they said and my own reaction.
Sir S Y Chung suggested that, since special consideration had
been given to the particular problems of Gibraltar and the
Falkland Islands, it was important to meet Hong Kong's concerns
as well. While they accepted the need for the new
legislation, it did appear in a very bad light in Hong Kong,
where concerns over the future were real. The impact of the
Bill, as it stood, had been such that the population as a
whole could not necessarily be relied on to stand up against the Chinese in the event (admittedly unlikely at present) of
a crisis with China on the lines of 1967.
2. Mr Cheung then developed the argument. He said that the
wording of paragraph 70 of the White Paper had given them the
impression that there would be provision in the Bill for Crown
Servants in a Dependent Territory to qualify for naturalisation
as British Citizens. However, the Bill and Schedule 1, as
drafted, confined such a provision to people employed by the
Government of the United Kingdom. Hong Kong w
was unique because
it did not have the option of independence. Hong Kong either
remained a Dependent Territory or was taken over by China.
looked to Britain to stand by its obligations to Hong Kong.
He
3. Mr Cheung suggested that there should be enabling
legislation which would allow the Home Secretary discretionary
powers to naturalise Crown Servants in Dependent Territories as
British citizens provided that all the other qualifications had been met. He thought it could be drafted on a contingency
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