DRAFT LETTER
ADDRESSEE'S REFERENCE
TO
K Sital Esq JP
Vice President
Council of Hong Kong Indian
c/o TST
PO Box 95106
HONG KONG
Associations
FILE NUMBER NTY/86 387/1330/35........
ENCLOSURES
COPIES TO BE SENT TO
(FULL POSTAL ADDRESS)
(FULL ADDRESSES, IF NECESSARY)
Home Secretary
LETTER DRAFTED FOR SIGNATURE BY
$ 536
H.O. EST. 112
(NAME OF SIGNATORY)
1. Thank you for your letters of 17 February and 3 and 25 March about
the Hong Kong Nationality Order in Council. It was very helpful
for us to have these expressions of the Council's views.
2. The Government has very carefully considered all the points made in your letters. We recognised the concern they represented and
we examined each of the aspects with great care to see whether it
would be right to move in the direction the Council suggested.
But, as you will have seen from my statement in Parliament on 23 April,
we finally concluded that it would not be right to do so. I know
this will come as a great disappointment to the Council, and I wanted
therefore to write to you myself to explain why we have reached
this conclusion.
As you know, the draft Order provides for a continued form of British
nationality for those British Dependent Territories citizens who
would otherwise be stateless in 1997, and for their children and
grandchildren. We believe that the most appropriate form of British
nationality which will properly reflect their position in Hong Kong
in 1997 is British Overseas citizenship. British citizenship cannot
of itself secure anyone's future in Hong Kong. This is assured
under the Sino-British Agreement which is internationally binding.
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