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mount and it would be necessary to consider possible fall-back
proposals to prevent serious damage to our relations.
8.
On
The Governor of Hong Kong has suggested (without consulting
the Executive Council) that a fall-back which might ward this off
would be an adjustment to the nomenclature of the present Citizenship
of the British Dependent Territories. He proposes using the term
'British Dependent Territories Citizen' in the Bill (so as to put
'British' first) and accompanying this by the following wording
in passports: 'British : Dependent Territories Citizen'.
9. The first part of this proposal should not cause any policy
problem, being primarily a psychological change of word order.
the proposed wording in passports, NTD's view is that it is a major
departure from the Bill (since it implies a 'British nationality'
status for which there is no provision in the Bill) and that such an
important step cannot be taken by purely administrative means. Their
view is that if some such change is to be introduced there must be
an amendment to the Bill perhaps introducing the term 'British
national' for CBDTs (and BOCs and the other special categories).
The Home Secretary has previously rejected a proposal on these lines.
So it is clear that it would not be possible to get quick agreement
on it.
10. This department believes that it may be necessary at some
stage to reconsider this proposal in order to prevent a breakdown
in relations with Hong Kong but it would not be practicable to make
an early offer on these lines in order to forestall other demands.
Nevertheless should we learn that HMG have decided to concede the
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