}
abode in Hong Kong.
Going on from this,
from this, it has been widely recognised, not
not least
in your Lordships' House, that this agreement does
does provide a
satisfactory framework in which the present way of life of all the
people who live in Hong Kong can be maintained after 1997. The
Government believe that it is a good agreement, and that it will be
effective. The Government see no reason for anyone to believe that
he or she will need to leave Hong Kong because of the agreement.
The people with whom we are now concerned, that is to say the
non-Chinese BDTCs in Hong Kong, are by definition people who have
made their lives in Hong Kong, many of them the descendants of
people who have lived in Hong Kong for many generations. Their
personal and family connections are with Hong Kong, not the UK. Το
suggest now that we should give them the right of abode in the UK,
exceptionally, is to suggest that we are not confident that
conditions in Hong Kong after 1997 will be such as to permit them to
remain there. This is not the belief of the Government, nor I think
is it the general belief of this House.
The second reason why the Government is opposed to giving right of
abode in the UK to sections of the community in Hong Kong is that we
do not think it would be right to discriminate in favour of one
section of the BDTC population in Hong Kong. We believe that it
would be deeply resented by other sections of that community, who of
course would constitute the vast majority. On the Second Reading
debate, I think that some of your Lordships may have dismissed
rather easily the feelings of the Chinese BDTCs, who constitute the
overwhelming majority of BDTCs in Hong Kong. I believe that most of
them would argue that if we were to give right of abode to any one section of the Community, they should have it too. For this reason,
the amendment now being considered would in my view be extremly
divisive in Hong Kong, and divisive at a time when we should be
doing everything we can to promote harmony and confidence.
[IF RAISED: PARALLEL WITH FALKLANDS/GIBRALTAR]
Not appropriate to draw a parallel with the Falkland Islands. The
British Nationality (Falkland Islands)
(Falkland Islands) Act 1983 conferred British