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187
M=Duald
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Mi waliging 26.
นว
(STA)
Thank you. I kept
Enlott
scents this useful mintonutil Today's meety which ↑ 220/2
Mr
Agains
Cc: Mr Clift
Mr Jones
I thought
Sir E Youde (+cc/MUR)
HER 340/1
was more primising them Mittelungs gloomy exprefsich might have
26 FEB1924/2
HONG KONG: NEW NATIONALITY LEGISLATION: MR CLIFT'S MINUTE OF 19 FEBRUARY BELOW
1.
(86)
BESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
PG 2612.
Sir S Y Chung and Sir Y K Kan are being utterly unrealistic. Sir Y K Kan apparently gave Sir Anthony Royle a terrific lecture along these lines during Sir Anthony's recent visit to Hong Kong and the latter has reported to me that there is a very great amount of discussion about the Nationality Bill in Hong Kong. On the other hand, he made it clear that he was the victim of a very well orchestrated campaign. I myself doubt if the great mass of the people in Hong Kong are as concerned about this as the handful of Unofficials appear to be.
2. I believe we must wait until we see the terms of the letter from the Unofficials, but I agree that there is probably little point in passing it uncritically to the Home Office. They could perfectly well reply that there has been plenty of time over the past few years for the FCO and the Governor to explain the White Paper to Exco and Legco and that it is a bit late in the day to raise again the demand for British citizenship and British passports for Hong Kong.
3. On the other hand we have an obligation to assist the Governor who is also under very great pressure and it would clearly help if Mr Ford could in some form or another be seen to have taken part in talks with the Home Office.
4.
I hope that you would feel able to discuss this with Mr Hilary. I can understand your doubts about this, but you could point out to Mr Hilary that:-
(a) Hong Kong's population puts it in an entirely different category from other dependent territories;
(b) the fact that Hong Kong can never be independent also puts it in a different bracket;
(c) Mr Ford is a very special kind of official in that he has worked for the British Government in Northern Ireland at HMG's request; he has a profound understanding of the Whitehall machine and of the constitutional relationship between the UK and Hong Kong.
For all these reasons, the Home Office might welcome the presence of an intelligent and sympathetic expert from Hong Kong.
5. As things stand I do not think it would be appropriate or helpful for Sir Murray to come to the UK himself. It may be
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/important