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not only
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their
this
passport but also their ID card:
may be So,
but the issue is emotive and it would not be
wise to admi t this point until we have seen how other
countries react.
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6.
1987.
It is
is proposed to start issuing BN(O) passports in
This is because, as a result of the 10 year
validity period for passports, i t will no longer be
possible to issue BDTC passports valid for the full period from that date. The early commencement will also
give an opportunity to spread out the large passport
issuing load over
number of years.
There i s
considerable concern in Hong Kong at present about the likely acceptability of the new passports. The government
has undertaken to make a major international effort to
en sure that BN(O)
passports are accepted as travel
documents in third countries. Helpfully, Vice-President
a
Bush stated in Hong Kong on 18 October that the US "will
have no problem recognising the document".
such
7. Mr Renton was recently told by Mr Donald Thompson MP
that a particular criticism being levelled against the
draft Order in Council was that its provisions reneged on
commitments given to the people of Hong Kong by Mrs
Thatcher. The Hong Kong Government have not heard
criticism voiced generally, but
but it could have arisen from
a misinterpretation of remarks of Mrs Thatcher's at her conference in Hong Kong on 27 September 1982,
combined with resentment over the British Nationality Act
1981, which wa s widely interpreted in Hong Kong as designed to keep people from Hong Kong out of the UK. The record of Mrs Thatcher's press conference of 1982 is
attached behind brief 22. The relevant remark s are
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pages 2 and 3.
press
on
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