HONG KONG
DRAFT ORDER IN COUNCIL
CONFIDENTIAL
4
BACKGROUND NOTE : NATIONALITY MATTERS
1. Negotiations with the Chinese on the nationality status of Hong Kong
British Dependent Territories citizens (BDTC) after 1 July 1997 proved to
be particularly difficult. This was because the Chinese Government have
refused to accept that Chinese "compatriots" in Hong Kong are anything other
than Chinese nationals. They do not recognise BDTC status, which they say
is derived from the UK's illegal occupation of Hong Kong. The negotiations
were further complicated by the fact that Chinese nationality law does not
recognise dual nationality and the Chinese could not therefore recognise
explcitly that Chinese nationals also had British passports.
2. Nationality is a particularly sensitive issue in Hong Kong. There is
a widely held belief in the territory that the British Nationality Act 1981
was introduced with the express purpose of giving the people of Hong Kong
a second class form of British nationality and preventing them emigrating
to the UK as 1997 approached. In light of these suspicions the Hong Kong
Executive Council urged us strongly to press for a continued form of British
nationality for Hong Kong BDTCs after 1997, and the continued ability to
transmit that status to their children. This was however unattainable and
a compromise was agreed in an exchange of memoranda associated with the
Joint Declaration whereby the Chinese Government would permit former Hong
Kong BDTCs to continue to travel after 1997 on travel documents issued by
the British authorities, while turning a blind eye to the fact that the
documents would be passports, and that the holders would therefore possess
a form of British nationality. But in keeping with their view that all
vestiges of the colonial past should disappear on 1 July 1997, they insisted
that the passports had to be acquired before 1 July 1997.
3. The UK Memorandum associated with the agreement therefore provides that
the new nationality status (namely British National (Overseas)) may only
be acquired by Hong Kong BDTCs if they hold or are included in a British
passport describing them as having that status, issued before 1 July 1997
(or before the end of 1997 in the case of persons born in the first 6 months
of that year). The agreement is unique in thus making the holding of a
passport essential for retaining the status of British National (Overseas).
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