5.8
The right to travel freely on a British-issued passport is of course very important for people who will not have the option of a Chinese travel document instead. Most BN(0)s will also be Chinese nationals and could use Chinese passports if their British ones are unacceptable. Non-Chinese British nationals will not also be nationals of China: they will be BN(O)s alone and their children will
be British Overseas citizens. British Overseas citizenship already has a dubious international reputation Canada
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first refused to admit any BOCs, and still refuses those whose passports do not show a right of abode somewhere. The minorities in Hong Kong have been left with an ineffective nationality status which, on its own, gives no right to live anywhere: they are now apparently also to be left with an ineffective passport which, on its own, may carry no right to go anywhere.
right of abode".
5.9 It is therefore important that the passport facility offered to Hong Kong British nationals under the draft Order in Council should provide them with travel documents which can stand alone as evidence of their nationality and immigration status. This could be done, if the Chinese authorities were willing to do so, by a passport endorsemnt, a "certificate of
The British authorities at present put such an endorsement into the passports of citizens of independent Commonwealth countries who have the right of abode in Britain under the 1971 Immigration Act. They do not have to carry any other documents to show UK immigration officers or officials in third countries that they have the right to live in Britain. People overseas can write to the British Home Office, with the relevant proof, and have their passports endorsed to facilitate travel. Britain should therefore seek an agreement with China that the authorities in Hong Kong now and after 1997 would similarly endorse the passports of those BN(0)s and BOCs who have the right of abode in Hong Kong under the Agreement.
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