383
Written Answers
26 NOVEMBER 1984
Mr. Luce: Section IV of annex I to the joint declaration initialled by the British and Chinese sides on 26 September states that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Government shall pay to public servants in Hong Kong
"who retire or complete their contracts, as well as to those who have retired before 1 July 1997, or to their dependents, all pensions, gratuities, allowances and benefits due to them on terms no less favourable than before, and irrespective of their nationality or place of residence."
We are confident that the arrangments set out in the draft agreement provide full security for the payment of pensions of both serving and retired civil servants, including members of Her Majesty' Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), and their dependants. It is not possible to define at this stage the exact arrangements which will be made for the payment of pensions by the SAR Government after 1997 to former HMOCS officers.
Mr. Stanbrook asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his estimate of the total number of those persons in Hong Kong entitled under the United Kingdom memorandum attached to the draft agreement between Her Majesty's Government and the Chinese Government to retain an appropriate status after 1 July 1997; and how many of these are Hong Kong Chinese compatriots as defined in the Chinese memoran- dum attached to the draft agreement.
Mr. Luce: Approximately three million persons who are now British Dependent Territories citizens by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong (Hong Kong BDTCs) will be eligible to retain with effect from 1 July 1997 the appropriate status referred to in the United Kingdom memorandum. This number is estimated to rise to around 4.1 million in 1997. Although this is a matter for the Chinese Government, I believe that some 6,000 of those who are currently Hong Kong BDTCs may not be considered to be Chinese compatriots in terms of the Chinese memorandum.
Mr. Stanbrook asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements have been made for the nationality of those British Dependant Territories' citizens in Hong Kong who, after 1 July 1997, will lose their citizenship and who are not eligible to be Chinese nationals.
Mr. Luce: All persons who on 30 June 1997 are British Dependent Territories citizens by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong are eligible to retain the appropriate status referred to in the United Kingdom memorandum, irrespective of whether or not they are eligible to be Chinese nationals.
Palestine Liberation Organisation
Mr. Latham asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will describe the circumstances in which he met Mr. Faisal Oweida, described as a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, in Blackpool on 11 October; and whether this represents any change in Government policy towards ministerial contacts of this kind.
Sir Geoffrey Howe: Mr. Faisal Oweida was briefly introduced to me at a reception given by the Conservative Middle East Council in Brighton on 11 October. This does not represent any change in Government policy.
194
Written Answers
Mr. John Sprange
(69
384
Mr. Dobson asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether he will give details of the Berlin legal authorities' consultations with him before deciding to prosecute Mr. John Sprange and another person for flying a hot air balloon into East Berlin; (2) whether the British Government have helped Mr. Sprange retrieve his hot air balloon from East Berlin;
(3) how long the Berlin authorities took to decide to prosecute Mr. Sprange.
Mr. Renton: A British representative asked the Soviet authorities in Berlin twice last year for the balloon to be returned. There was no response. Further approaches to the Soviet authorities were made on 24 and 31 October 1984, and on 7 November.
The Berlin prosecutor applied to the Allied Kommandatura on 11 November 1983 for permission for the German courts to exercise jurisdiction with respect to the alleged violation of the law. On 30 November 1983 the Legal Committee of the Allied Kommandatura granted permission. The Berlin legal authorities then proceeded with the prosecution.
Tristan da Cunha (Generators)
Dr. Marek asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which firm constructed the wind- powered electricity generator that was blown down on Tristan da Cunha; and who were the consulting engineers.
Mr. Renton: The wind turbine was manufactured by Wind-Matic a/s of Denmark and installed by the Tristan authorities. The consulting engineers were the Cranfield Institute of Technology.
Dr. Marek asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the payment to Tristan Investments Ltd. for its supply and use of electricity generators on Tristan da Cunha.
Mr. Renton: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to his question of 12 November at column 124, in which I said that responsibility for the provision of electricity on Tristan da Cunha lies with the Island council. Information regarding payments is therefore not readily available. I will write to the hon. Meer.
TUBE/EC
04018
Wirebird 25 NOV 1984
Dr. Marek asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 'what evidence he has for his statement that the wirebird, endemic to St. Helena, is not threatened with extinction.
Mr. Renton The evidence of expert visitors and fong- term residents over recent years is that the wirebird is not a threatened species and that the population is now stable. Wirebirds have been protected by law since 1894. They are believed to have eleven separate breeding localities and have no major predators. The upland pastures the bird inhabits have suffered some encroachment from human habitation but are likely to remain in sufficient quantity.
Libya (Gas Pipeline)
Mr. Cohen asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance Her Majesty's
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