Pa
Nahly
MINISTER
OF
STATE
HKD
Our Ref: IMG/85 9/387/5 (S)
Yes!
M. iltwell
| 271
4PS
HOME OFFICE
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE
LONDON SWIH 9AT
ps/MrRenton
Dr Wuson
Last years
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You wrote to the Foreign Secretary and me on 25 November expressing concern about the position of British passport holders in Hong Kong and the potential immigration implications of the Agreement on the future of Hong Kong concluded with the People's Republic of China.
Our primary objective in the negotiations with the Chinese has been to reach a satisfactory negotiated settlement which will ensure continuing stability and prosperity for all those who live and work in Hong Kong. We believe that the Agreement with the Chinese provides this framework and that those in Hong Kong recognise this. In these circumstances, I do not expect that there will be any general desire on the part of people in Hong Kong to come to this country but I can give you an assurance that nothing in the Agreement, in the Hong Kong Act 1985 by which Parliament endorsed the Agreement or in the draft Order in Council which is to be debated in the New Year will provide anyone connected with Hong Kong with a right to come to the United Kingdom for settlement if they did not have a right to settle here already.
This has been made quite clear both in the debates in Parliament and in Hong Kong and I do not imagine that anyone there is under any misapprehension on this point.
It is, as you know, the Government's clear policy that, at a time of high unemployment and economic recession, primary immigration to this country should be severely restricted and I appreciate your concern in this regard. However, although we will clearly wish to monitor the situation as we approach 1997, it is generally understood that the Agreement with the Chinese does not provide any additional avenue for settlement in the United Kingdom and does, I believe, provide the circumstances in which those who have made their homes there will wish to remain.
HKK 04014
нин
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
2 4 JAN 1986
174
Nicholas R Winterton Esq MP
W
(DAVID WADDINGTON)