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the importance of our cooperation with them in achieving that.
Q. It's the ultimate threat that the entrepreneurs of Hong Kong will go elsewhere unless there is a satisfactory agreement.
A. I think the ultimate threat is the whole range of economic
realities so to speak. The extent to which what is agreed and followed thereafter is sufficient will be demonstrated as you say, by the extent to which Hong Kong maintains the continuity for which we are aiming.
Q.
Citizenship.
Leader of Daily Telegraph is saying
What is the government's thinking on this?
A.
There are of course obviously two aspects for concern.
One is the domestic concern by people in this country at the prospects of all the five million people of Hong Kong claiming citizenship rights and feeling they needed to do so. On the
other hand, there is obviously concern in Hong Kong that they should retain a separate identification with Hong Kong itself as distinct from merely being identified with China and retain those aspects of British dependent territory citizenship which include the right to British consular protection in third
countries. There are more refinements beyond that and at this stage we are obviously listening very closely to what the Hong Kong people say about it. But our main objective must be to secure a conclusion which all the people of Hong Kong can regard
as suitable for them to remain in the territory as a going concern.
The objective must be to get arrangements right for Hong Kong in the future, including as I say this freedom of entry and exit to Hong Kong as a separate region distinct from China and the right to continue consular protection from the UK in third territories.
Q.
If the worst came to the worst, and their fears
A. That I think is one of the very strong reasons for wanting to secure an agreement that actually is sufficient and why we
have to achieve all we need to achieve interms of detail and sufficiency in the agreement, which of course is unusual
in the sense that it is coming into shape now in relation to a
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