Cust This crossed wit my minte of today's date
Mr
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RECEIVED PAREPARARY NO." ju-
SECRET INDEX
to Mr. Adams. Donald Coped to sort land. THOSE стриадо быкчала See (87) Art
2 € FEB 1981
OCH EN
HONG KONG NEW NATIONALITY LEGISLATION
1.
PA
30.3
M
REGISTRY
(86) PA
ald
happened to see the Chief
leatham & tried the idea
ch
agrees
him. He As is para 9 will me that Mi Ford should NOT latest developments in Hong Kong received by telephone this morning have
Mr Ford, Hong Kong Commissioner, called to tell me of the
from the Chief Secretary.
be present. I am sorry
not
2. Sir S Y Chung has reverted to the basic Hong Kong demand for Hong Kong British Passport-holders to have equal nationality status with residents of the UK. He has written a letter to the Governor, signed apparently by all Unofficials, asking that Hong Kong British Passport-holders should have British Citizenship, the only difference from people in the UK being that their passports would be stamped
'No right of residence in the United Kingdom'
Spolin to you but as I was
3. The Governor is apparently taking the line with the Unofficials that their demands are quite unrealistic. He feels, nevertheless, in duty bound to pass on Sir S Y Chung's letter. We will probably get it by telegram today.
4.
with Si E. Youde I thought
I Partly as a result of this development, the Governor get his the
breach i
according
to the Chief Secretary, is again considering the possibility of coming to London to add his weight to Hong Kong's representations. Apparently the letter from the Unofficials reflects feeling that the Hong Kong Government and FCO have not acted sufficiently vigorously on their behalf. Although Sir Murray undoubtedly recognises that the S Y Chung demands are out of the question, he clearly feels under heavy pressure and needs to demonstrate that he is doing everything possible.
5.
Janes
Finally, Hong Kong believe it would be very useful after a if Mr Ford could join in the official talks with the Home Office. Mr Ford does not now plan to go to Hong Kong this weekend and would be very grateful if we could put the idea of his attendance to Mr Hilary.
19
Σ
6. There seems little doubt that Sir S Y Chung has judged the position badly, both in the substance of his demands and in the fact that they are being made semi-public. But there clearly is a good deal of other steam behind the Hong Kong attitude. The subject is being openly discussed in the press, TV, etc. in the context of problems over the future. Sir Y K Kan has apparently written personally to the Governor in rather similar terms to Sir S Y Chung. It is therefore understandable that Sir Murray feels that he must be able to demonstrate that he is acting on Hong Kong's behalf, although I am sure that he will leave the Unofficials in no doubt that they cannot achieve what they are asking.
7. As regards the letter from the Unofficials, we need to consider whether and how to pass it to the Home Office,
بعدی
SECRET
Frankly I do not
/think
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mark M. Clifts minte tohin
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