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HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL
NATIONALITY WHITE PAPER : DEBATE ON TAKE NOTE MOTION
OPENING SPEECH
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1.
My Lords, the White Paper which we are about to debate sets out the
Government's proposals for implementing the nationality provisions of the Hong Kong Act 1985, which received Royal Assent in April last year.
With the White Paper is the draft of an Order in Council which would enact these provisions and which, subject to what is said today, we would hope
to lay formally before the House before Easter.
2.
These provisions arise out of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on
Hong Kong and the exchange of Memoranda associated with it. Your Lordships will recall that the House debated and approved the Government's intention to sign the agreement just over a year ago. Following that debate, my
Rt
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Hon. Friend the Prime Minister went to Peking to sign the agreement.
The Schedule to the Hong Kong Act enabled provision to be made by Order in Council for a number of matters concerning nationality. Paragraph 2
on 1 July 1997 of the holding of is concerned with the ending / British Dependent Territories citizenship
the Schedule provides that by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong. But/those who
were such citizens on that date will be entitled to acquire a
new form
of nationality, the holders of which would be known as British Nationals (Overseas). The Schedule also enabled provision to be made, amongst other matters, for the avoidance of statelessness. The Sino-British Agreement and the Hong Kong Act have therefore already established the framework
within which the Order in Council must fit.
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RECEIVED
* REGISTRY
- 9 JAN 1986
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INDEX
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4.
In response to points made in both Houses of Parliament during the
debates on the Hong Kong Bill the Government undertook to set out its
proposed nationality provisions in a form which would allow them to be
debated and, if necessary, amended, before Parliament was invited to give
its approval. We have done this. The White Paper containing the Order was published in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong on 17 October, and the people of Hong Kong have had a good opportunity to comment on it. As your Lordships will know the White Paper was debated in the Hong Kong Legislative Council on 4 December 1985. No doubt many of your Lordships will have taken note of Hong Kong's views, and will wish to take the opportunity
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