S'd
5
passport which from that time onwards will have a progressively short qu
period of validity and the second is to allow immigration control points
in third countries plenty of time to get used to the new passport. The
intention is, of course, that by the time the BN (0) passport beogra
available
le in 1987 third countries will have accepted it as a valid travel
document. If this objective is attained, and Sir, I am muxe it will, then
it will be right for the Government as a whole to encourage 3020, to move
over to the new EN(0) passport. Also on pasaporta Sir, De Ho Kau-fal,
Mr Hui Yin-fat and Mr Desmond Les inquired whether it would be pasible
for a resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to hold
onourrently a EN(0) passport and an SAR passport. Eir, in our view
paragraph 3 of Section 14 of Annex I to the Joint Declaration clearly
provides for residents of the Special Administrative Region to hold
concurrently an SAR and a BN(0) passport. There can be, Sir, no other
interpretation.
Mr John Swaine, Mr Allen Lee, Mr Stephen Cheong, Mr Deamond Lee
and Mr Thomas Clydesdale saked for sympathetic consideration to be given
to the request from BDTCs who are not of Chinese origin for grant of
British citizenship or right of abode in the United Kingdom. Mr Swaine
made a similar plea, supported by others, for former servicemen of Hong
Kong in recognition of their military service in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Sir, grant of right of abode in the United Kingdom is a matter for Bar
Majesty's Government and I have no doubt that the eloquent pleas fide
on their behalf by those in this council and others outside will reach
the ears of those in Westminister by the time the draft azier comes to
be debated. But there is no question of any person who despes
ARTIRA
MH SIS 98:00 S8, SO 031