It
their children would acquire British Overseas citizenship. This course is favoured by Hong Kong. would have to be defended on the grounds that those who are already non-Chinese BDTCs in Hong Kong are in this position through no fault of their own, but anyone who voluntarily puts himself in this position henceforth does so in full knowledge of the consequences. However in our view this course would be cumbersome, divisive, as it could lead to split families, and would be bound to produce a number of hard cases.
Paragraph 8 of the draft minute should also be amended to make it clear that it will be "our critics in the UK" who would seize on our change of mind as proof etc etc. criticism would not be levelled in Hong Kong.
This