4KK 02614
SECEC
14 FEB 1986
TRV
CONFIDENTIAL
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(43)
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Private Secr
cretary.
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From: Date:
P J Westmacott
CC:
12 February 1986
Sir W Harding
Dr Wilson Mr Galsworthy
MR RENTON'S MEETING WITH THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG
1.
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Before he sees the Governor tomorrow, the Secretary of State may like to have a summary of Mr Renton's talk with him this afternoon. Mr Galsworthy and I were also present.
Nationality and the Role of the HK Government
2.
Mr Galsworthy gave a résumé of last week's discussions between Hong Kong and Home Office officials. It looked as though Home Office Ministers would be advised to approve a passport endorsement on lines broadly acceptable to the Hong Kong Government and to offer a less strict interpretation of Section 4 (5) of the BNA to those ex-servicemen who qualified. But the proposal that non-ethnic Chinese should be offered full British citizenship continued to present major difficulties of principle. The Governor thought that there would be much criticism in LEGCO, and in the Hong Kong press, of a decision to turn down the non-ethnic Chinese, but that the concessions on the passport endorsement and the ex-servicemen should be enough to avoid a constitutional crisis.
3.
Mr Renton asked whether, with hindsight, there were any ways in which the Hong Kong Government might have warned LEGCO in advance of the difficulties posed for HMG by the Unofficials' demands. He had in mind the likelihood of further difficulties eg on defence costs (see below) or direct elections. The Governor said that it was always open to HMG to send a message to LEGCO, which the Chief Secretary could read out. He himself was bound, by Letters Patent, to follow the advice tendered by EXCO, and did not, in any case, intervene in LEGCO debates. Pressed further by Mr Renton about ways in which the Governor could warn Hong Kong opinion of issues on which there was a danger of asking HMG to do the impossible, the Governor emphasised the need for he and
CONFIDENTIAL