E.R.
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It was therefore agreed that all Hong Kong BDTCs should be able to apply for BN(0) status, with the exception of those who were to be excepted from loss. These people were in effect to be treated as if they did not have a connection with Hong Kong. They could not therefore logically be permitted to apply for BN (0) status.
COMMONWEALTH CITIZENS:
ARTICLE 7(3)
9. FCO were anxious to disguise in some way the fact the BN(0)s were to be Commonwealth citizens. The Home Office view was that these people were to be British nationals, and could not therefore be deprived of the domestic rights which went with that nationality (eg the right to vote, to join the Civil Service, to be an MP etc). Mr Pakenham-Walsh said he could see no convenient way of disguising the fact that BN (0)s would be, or would be treated as, Commonwealth citizens. NTD also pointed out that if this was not clear there was a danger that such persons might lose rights that they already possessed in other Commonwealth countries.
if they queried it, to
It was therefore agreed that Article 7(3) should be left in the
tin ? draft, and that FCO would put it to both Hong Kong and the Chinese
that the substance must appear in the Order. In explaining this to the Chinese it would be made clear that this did not imply any recognition of Hong Kong as a Commonwealth country after 1997.
LOSS OF BOC STATUS: ARTICLE 6(6)
10. This Article proposed that anybody who became a BOC under the arrangements in the Order for the avoidance of statelessness should lose that citizenship if he acquired another citizenship or nationality. The matter was not raised during the meeting, but it was discussed with the FCO afterwards. The BNA 1981 does not provide for loss of BOC status on acquisition of another nationality. It was concluded that it would be wrong to make an exception to that general principle in this case, and thus create as it were, two classes of BOC.
It was therefore agreed that Article 6(6) should be deleted from the draft.
SCHEDULE OF CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS
11. FCO had no comments on the draft Schedule, but further work would need to be done to ensure that all the relevant enactments were included in the Schedule.
It was agreed that further consideration should be given to this.
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