+
HONG KONG NATIONALITY WHITE PAPER
BRIEFING NOTES
1.
ja
Nally
TREATMENT OF NON-ETHNIC CHINESE AND FORMER SERVICEMEN
4
©
HMG should grant British citizenship to non-ethnic Chinese BDTCs
who have no other nationality.
1.
request
нии осоки
RECEIVED
INDL
-
EGISTRY
- 9 JAN 1986
AMER
PA
F:
STRY Action Taken
Not persuaded that it would be appropriate to grant their
for the following reasons:
a) the provisions in Article 6 fully reflect the undertakings
given during the passage of the Hong Kong Bill. These were
that no former BDTC, nor any children born after 30 June 1997 to such a person, will become stateless as a result of the
agreement. This was extended to cover the grandchildren of
former Hong Kong BDTCs, if they were born stateless.
b)
Right of abode in Hong Kong can only be provided by the
Government until 30 June 1997. After that date, it will be
a matter for the Chinese Government. But the agreement with
the Chinese guarantees rights of abode in Hong Kong after 1997.
The Government believe that these provisions will cover all
non-ethnic Chinese BDTCs in Hong Kong, unless they have left
Hong Kong permanently to settle elsewhere and have right of
abode somewhere else.
c)
Nationality without right of abode in the parent country
is not as has been suggested in some quarters, a form of state-
lessness. BDTCs do not now have the right of abode in the
United Kingdom. The Council's proposals would undermine the
principles of the British Nationality Act 1981, which was to
confer on all former citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies
a status which would accurately reflect their links with the
United Kingdom or with a dependent territory or former
dependency as the case may be.