(copy attached for convenience). Both the draft White
Paper and Order have been agreed with the FCO, and with
Hong Kong officials, and with the Executive Council of
Hong Kong (EXCO), with the exception of one matter of
principle which is considered at paragraph 19 below.
The commentary provided in the draft White Paper is
largely self-explanatory, but Ministers will wish
particularly to consider the following matters.
Connections with Hong Kong
9.
The first part of the Order defines those persons
who hold British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC)
by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong. This proved
to be a difficult task, since BDTC is the common
citizenship shared by all those connected with a
Dependent Territory, without any distinction being made
between them. The Order therefore sets out in Article 2
a generalised formula which is designed to encompass all
the ways in which a person can be connected with Hong
Kong. This formula is supported by a list (Annext 2)
which sets out in detail the 33 ways in which a person
might have become a BDTC by virtue of a connection with
Hong Kong. The list is thought to be comprehensive.
But we do not discount the possibility that there may
somewhere be a person whose essential connection is
with Hong Kong, and who falls within Article 2 of the
Order, but who does not in fact appear on the list. The
list is not therefore intended to be part of the Order
but only informative to illustrate Article 2.
10.
It should also be emphasised that of the approx-
imately 34 million BDTCs in Hong Kong the vast bulk of
them (about 3.19 million) are BDTCs by birth and about
53,000 by registration or naturalisation. Most Hong Kong
BDTCS will therefore fall within Article 2(1)(a) and the
remainder of Article 2 will be populated by a very small
number of people (indeed we cannot say with confidence
that all the sub paragraphs of Article 2(1), or all the
33 categories in the list are populated at all: but
provision needs to be made for them).
4