39A
SECRET
HKIC 340/1 RECEIVED ** ***Y NO. SI 16 FEB 1981
DESK OFFICER INDEX
AND
PA
REGISTRY Action Take:
Amended
Verown
ahove
RECORD OF A MEETING BETWEEN THE FOREIGN AN
OFICIAL COMMONWEA
COMMONWEALTH SECRETARY AND UNOFFICIAL MEMBERS OF THE HONG KONG EXECUTIVE AND NATIVE COUNCILS: 2 FEBRUARY 1981
Present
The Rt Hon The Lord Carrington KCMG PC Mr R D Clift
Sir S Y Chung CBE
Mr R M J Lyne
See 13
Mr O V Cheung CBE OC Mr D R Ford MVO OBE
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+173
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NEW NATIONALITY BILL AND IMMIGRATION MATTERS
1.
107
117) +124
After a short discussion on conditions in Hong Kong, Sir S Y Chung said that he and Mr Cheung had been asked to represent the views of Unofficial Members to the Secretary of State on the draft nationality legislation now before the House of Commons. The Hong Kong Government had expressed its concern about the successive Green and White Papers and most recently about the draft Bill. There were still a number of aspects which he hoped could be considered during the progress of the Bill through Parliament. Unofficials were pleased to note the con- firmation of a separate category of citizenship for the Dependent Territories but they were perplexed by the reference in the Home Secretary's speech in the Second Reading Debate that the intro- duction of a third category did not for practical purposes man that the position of those who would have been British Overseas Citizens under the Green Paper proposals would be altered.
2.
The new citizenship of the British Dependent Territories (CBDT) was no real improvement. Hong Kong believed that CBDTs should have additional rights to those of British Overseas Citizens. He had noted Mr Raison's statement in the Debate that no special consideration was possible for any particular dependency. However, Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands had been mentioned as possibly meriting special consideration. Sir S Y Chung suggested that some form of special arrangement for Hong Kong might be possible.
3.
Hong Kong welcomed the reiteration in the Debate of the assurance in Paragraph 16 of the White Paper about IIMG's commitment to its dependencies. However, in Hong Kong the legislation was seen as another step towards distancing Ilong Kong from the United Kingdom, part of a series since the first 1962 Immigration Act.
4. Mr Whitelaw had pointed out that Britain was no longer an imperial power. Nevertheless, the constitutional position of Hong Kong had not changed and there was therefore no logical point in the change of designation from 'Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC) to CBDT. Sir Y K Kan had pointed this out publicly.
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