"
HONG KONG NATIONALITY ORDER IN COUNCIL
DRAFT OPENING SPEECH (COMMONS)
1. The draft Nationality Order implements arrangements which have been fully
considered and debated over many months.
2.
The Order represents the culmination of a long period of careful work. It
stems from the agreement with the Chinese which, with this House's wholehearted
approval, the Prime Minister signed in December 1984. It continued with the
Hong Kong Act 1985 which again this House fully debated and approved. And it
led from there to our debate in January when there was a full opportunity to
consider the detailed arrangements which are now incorporated in the draft Order.
Equally full and detailed discussions have been held in Hong Kong.
3. It is right that the matter should have been dealt with in this careful way.
Fair and comprehensive nationality arrangements are vital to the future of people
in Hong Kong and for the successful implementation of the agreement with the
Chinese.
4. We need to make the Order now so as to have enough time to make the necessary
arrangements for the BN (0) passport to be issued from 1 July 1987 with the normal
10 year validity period.
5. I shall not describe in detail the provisions of the Order. It is in the
form which the House considered in January, apart from one or two minor drafting
and technical amendments. It establishes those who, because of their connection
with Hong Kong, will cease to be British Dependent Territories citizens in 1997;
and it gives them the right to acquire British National (Overseas) status and
the passport that goes with it. The Order makes provisions also to guard against
statelessness.
6. Our proposals in the draft Order fully meet our obligations in the Joint
Declaration and properly exercise our powers under the Hong Kong Act. I think
that this has been generally accepted in earlier debates in the House as it has
been in Hong Kong. But, following their debate last December, the Hong Kong
Legislative and Executive Councils made three points which have attracted support
in this House and in another place. They were first that there should be an
endorsement in British National (Overseas) pàssports to show that the holder
did not require a visa or entry certificate to visit the United Kingdom. Second,
that former servicemen in Hong Kong who fought in its interests during the second
1
-