CONFIDENTIAL
DSR 11C
use
of
minorities who are
not, of the counter argument that few of the 60,000 would
in practice wish to settle in this country. Secondly,
this higher figure takes no account of the
possibility, which we discussed with Hong Kong officials
in February, that we might have amended the Order to give
British citizenship only to members of the ethnic
already BDTCS at the time it comes
This possible compromise has never been
endorsed by the minorities themselves as acceptable, and
the Hong Kong officials concluded that
probably be divisive and undesirable.
But to say
publicly that we cannot in equity exclude potential BDTCs
nevertheless invites the counter-argument that we
into force.
we and
it would
can do
so both in practical and in political terms. We should
simply be providing another pretext for supporters of the
ethnic minorities to attack the use of the figure of
60,000 as deliberately misleading.
In short, Sir Geoffrey Howe believes that any emphasis on
the UK immigration aspect of this question is fraught
with difficulties in Hong Kong terms.
In his view it
would be much better (and probably equally effective in
Parliament) to concentrate on the arguments that the
are fully the minorities
arrangements
we have made for
adequate, and that to grant them British citizenship
would be inconsistent with other aspects of our policy on
nationality.
CONFIDENTIAL