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UK PRESS:
The story about the Local Inspectors' Association's plan to seek UK citizehship for its members appeared in the Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and the Standard before the LIA issued its clarifying statement. The Mail reported on Sunday that up to 500 000 people could be involved and the ministers regarded the threat of a mass exodus to Britain as real. Michael Jones had a lengthy report on the issue in the Sunday Times saying the inspectors intended to exploit a loophole in the Nationality Act. If the move succeeded the way would be open for 100 000 HK Government servants to make the same application, involving an extension of British citizenship to more than 250 000 HK Chinese when their dependent relatives were taken into account. Jones said the provision in the Act to give the Home Secretary power to grant full British citizenship to civil servants in independent territories was designed to safeguard the position of a small group of Chinese officials in the administration and prominent public figures closely identified with British rule should China regain control of the territory. He quoted a Conservative MP who was closely associated with the Act's parliamentary progress as saying "We put the figure at a few hundred. We cannot allow this loophole to be exploited by thousands, let alone hundreds of thousands." The report said the police inspectors, embarrassed by reports of their plans, had issued a statement that their intention had been misinterpreted.
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On 13 April, the Guardian ran a long article on Shenzhen by its Industrial Editor, Michael Smith, who said the place was more significant than simply an economic zone because many thought that if it was successful it would help China absorb HK.
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