citizens in Hong Kong, unless they have left Hong Kong permanently
and have the right of abode elsewhere.
17.
The Indian community in particular, with support from the
Executive and Legislative Councils of Hong Kong, argue that the se
provisions
BN (0)
do not go far enough. The y are concerned firstly that
status W ill not
itself give them right of abode in Hong Kong:
this will be a matter for the Chinese Government. And secondly,
they are concerned about the future nationality status of their
descendants after the second generation born after 1997. They have
therefore asked to be granted British citizenship, rather than BN (0)
or BOC status. The Unofficial Members have also asked that s ome 400
or SO former
Hong Kong should be granted British
citizenship, or alternatively that the Government should consider
sympathetically any application they might make for registration as
British citizens under Section 4(5) of the British Nationality Act
1981.
servicemen
in
18.
Kong.
grant
this
that
those BD TC s
who
I shall listen very carefully to all that is said in
debate, but I have to say that the Government i s
not persuaded
it would be right to
to British citizenship
are not ethnically Chinese. They want to continue to live in Hong
The Joint Declaration guarantees their right to do so.
British citizenship cannot help them
in
this regard. British
citizenship cannot after 30 June 1997 give them right of abode in a
territory which will no longer be British. Furthermore, the grant
of British citizenship would not benefit future generations any more
than the present proposals.
British citizenship can be transmitted
to only on e
entitlement
proposed
generation born
abroad.
The second generation has an
to registration
as British
citizens similar to the
After that there is no
entitlement to BOC status.
automatic claim nor entitlement to registration as a British
There is therefore no advantage in terms of avoiding
citizen.
statelessness
securing
generations by conferring
or
future
their future in Hong Kong for
British citizenship on the non-ethnic
(7)