E.I
BY FACSIMILE
Mr Hill
Hong Kong Department FCO
HKK 340
ReCelv:
3 1 JUL 1936
SURY
on Taken
CC.
Mr Fries
Mr Lyon
Mr Nicholson
Mr McDougall (MVD)
HONG KONG RIGHT OF ABODE : TELEGRAM NUMBERS 2055 AND 2057
(906)
We spoke.
I am not aware of any concept of the right of abode in international
law.
It is a peculiarly British concept and is set out in the Immigration Act 1971.
It was needed to deal with the rights attached to the various forms of British
nationality. In fact the right of abode in the United Kingdom is not restricted to
British citizens alone; it is extended to those Commonwealth citizens who
immediately before 1 January 1983 had the right of abode by virtue of having a parent who was born in the United Kingdom (under section 2(1)(d) of the original Act
Act) or by virtue of their marriage to a "patrial" (under section 2(2) of the original Act).
Thus the extension of the right of abode to Commonwealth citizens is, essentially,
a transitional provision and the analogy to be drawn is with the rights and
responsibilities normally associated with citizenship. Adopting this approach, the
last two sentences of paragraph 4 of the proposed response might be replaced with
something on the following lines:-
"The term "right of abode" is needed to reflect the rights of
people in Hong Kong in the absence of a clear concept of a
citizenship related to that territory. Our objective is to
ensure that those with a right of abode in Hong Kong have the
rights and responsibilities normally associated with
citizenship. A departure from this concept including the
essential element of non-deportability is likely to give rise
to controversy in Hong Kong. Any suggestion that Hong Kong
people will be getting less than what this concept generally
comprises would have the most unsettling effect on confidence
in Hong Kong."
I have no particular comments on the rest of the proposed line. A primary objective