for people in Hong Kong.
SECRET
It was conceded by the Home Office and FCO Legal
Advisers at a meeting on 11 August with the Hong Kong
Attorney General that there could be no legal objection
to inserting the description 'British' in passports
held by BDTCS connected with Hong Kong. Indeed all
categories of citizen etc in the British Nationality Act
1981 are 'British nationals' in international law. This
agreement was of particular significance because if followed
earlier controversy with Hong Kong, with the details of
which your officials will be familiar, in which we
refused to agree to any description which could be taken
as modifying in the field of municipal law the citizen-
ship status laid down in the new Act. Our lawyers'
agreement on 11 August was in response to a different
Hong Kong argument that it was appropriate for passports
to show also the holder's status incinternational law.
This derives directly from the municipal status, viz
BDTC. Now that the Hong Kong. government are aware that
we see no legal objection to inserting the description
'British national' they will find it incomprehensible -
་
and probably sinister-if we refuse to do so.
They would
I notice
regard it as a weakening of our commitment.
that Hyde's letter does not address this important
aspect of the problem.
The second foreign policy difficulty is that with the Prime
Minister's visit to Peking and Hong Kong this month we
may enter an extended period of negotiation about the
Territory's future in relation to the expiry of the New
Territories lease in 1997. It is most important to do
SECRET
/all