CONFIDENTIAL
of China to enjoy in the United Kingdom the like privileges and
immunities as are accorded to diplomatic agents by the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964. The situation is not thought to be covered already by Section 6 of the International Organisations Act 1968.
Other Provisions
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6. It is not essential that the Bill should contain any other provisions to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Joint
Declaration. However Ministers have decided to deal with two other
matters in the Bill (nationality and modification of laws), thus obviating the need for a second Hong Kong Bill. They are both matters of greater substance than privileges and immunities, and it would be preferable if they could be dealt with in an earlier part
of the Bill. Nevertheless the overriding consideration is to secure
the enactment before 30 June 1985 of those parts of the Bill without
which the UK could not ratify the Joint Declaration, i.e. clauses
dealing with sovereignty and privileges and immunities which will
give effect to the undertakings given to the Chinese in the Joint Declaration. If therefore the provisions on nationality or modifications of laws ran into undue parliamentary difficulties they
could both in the last resort be dropped from the Bill.
Nationality
7. The object of the nationality provisions in the Bill will be to
take advantage of China's tacit acceptance of the UK Memorandum
(page 28 of Paper A). The Bill should contain enabling provisions including reference to the main objectives specified below, so that subsequently the operative provisions and the necessary detailed
amendments to the British Nationality Act 1981 (c.61) can be made by
means of one or more Orders in Council, which will be subject to
affirmative resolution in Parliament.
8.
Our main aim will be to ensure that persons who immediately before 1 July 1997 are British Dependent Territories Citizens (BDTCs) by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong and with no other
dependent territories lose their BDTC status on that date but are
entitled to acquire, on application, a new form of British
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