محن
ধ
CONTIDENTIAL
with the Chinese Government provide the best guarantee possible that those established in Hong Kong and their children will be able to continue
to live there. There is no other satisfactory or reliable way to provide
people in Hong Kong with what they want the right of abode there
otherwise than through this firm agreement with the Chinese.
-
16. The provisions are also rightly framed in a way which clearly applies
to all former British Dependent Territories citizens connected with Hong
Kong who might find themselves stateless. While we recognize that it
is the non-ethnic Chinese community, and particularly the Indian community
in Hong Kong who currently have most interest in these provisions, they
deliberately and intentionally do not distinguish between British Dependent
Territories citizens on the grounds of their ethnic or racial origins.
L
To do so would be wholly wrong and very short sighted. All Hong Kong British
Dependent Territories citizens will be eligible to become British Nationals
(Overseas)s up to 1997.
But if
any former British Dependent Territories citizen or their children or
grandchildren risks statelessness, regardless of their ethnic origin,
these additional provisions will apply.
17.
The Government recognize that the position after about the middle
of the next century is uncertain for those who may rely on these provisions
to avoid statelessness. It is of course impossible for any of us to
predict exactly what life will be like then citizenship status may
not be the only uncertainty in the middle of the next century! But the
Government's firm view is that the right course for those who have
permanently settled in what will by then have been a part of China for
many years is for them to opt they cannot be compelled to become
Chinese nationals. This is a matter we are pursuing in discussions with
the Chinese Government. In the unlikely event of any British national
being forced to leave Hong Kong and having nowhere to go, however, the
Government have made it clear, and I want to repeat again, that we would
expect the Government of the day to consider sympathetically whether
to admit such people on a case by case basis in the light of the particular
circumstances.
18 I believe therefore that the proposals in the draft Order, taken
6-