CONFIDENTIAL
RE ID OF ORAL POINTS MADE BY MR M W ATKINSON TO NIE GONGCHENG, DIRECTOR OF CONSULAR DEPARTMENT OF THE CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, BEFORE SIGNING A MEMORANDUM CONCERNING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHINESE VISA OFFICE IN HONG KONG AT THE MFA ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1981
1.
Mr Atkinson said that before signing the memorandum he would like to be sure that the following points were under- stood by both sides. (He recalled that he had made these points before when he saw Nie on 20 August) :-
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
(e)
2.
The Visa Office should operate initially as in the British memorandum of 19 June (ie such minimal taxes and duties as have not been exempted will be paid).
Since China-based members of the visa office, and dependents forming part of their households, are to be given certain privileges by administrative action we need to know who they are. The Director of the Office should therefore provide the Political Adviser with a full list on 1 January and 1 July and notify changes as they occur. The name of the Director should be notified to and agreed in advance by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The NCNA and its directors will continue to be the normal local channel of contact between the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities on all matters except the issue of visas.
The functions of the visa office will be limited to the issue of visas. It will not issue passports.
Since the visa office is now a consulate, it will not be listed in the Hong Kong list of commissioners, consular offices and trade commissioners. Nor would it be appropriate to use other consular symbols (such as CC plates).
Nie Gongcheng agreed to all these points but posed the hypothetical rare case of a Chinese passport holder resident overseas visiting Hong Kong for a few days and losing his passport, and suggested (as his "personal" thought) that it might be convenient if the Visa Office could issue a passport in such exceptional cases. Mr Atkinson said that the possibility of such difficulties occuring had existed in the past and it was likely that they had in fact occurred, and solutions had been found. If they occurred in the future, the Visa Office should consult the Hong Kong authorities, as they should about any other practical problems. It was important that we should be absolutely clear about the principle that the Visa Office should not issue passports. Nie Gongcheng agreed.
CONFIDENTIAL
13.