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SECRETARY
HRK 340/1
REGISTRY
3 1 JUL 1986
KESESTRY.
Jon Taken
QUEEN ANNE'S GATE LONDON SWIH 9AT
29 April 1986
901
Dear Mr. Sital,
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.
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 entitles all those who are British Dependent Territories citizens because of their connection with Hong Kong to become British Nationals (Overseas) whatever their ethnic origin. But it also provides a continued form of nationality (British Overseas Citizenship) for any who have not become BN(0)s and who would otherwise be stateless, and for any children or grandchildren of former British Dependent Territories citizens in a similar position. We are fully satisfied that in these circumstances British Overseas citizenship is the right citizenship and that it properly reflects the position of these citizens in Hong Kong. British citizenship cannot of itself secure anyone's future in Hong Kong. This is assured under the Sino-British Agreement which is internationally binding.
Contrary to what you suggest in your letter of 17 February, non-ethnic Chinese permanent residents of Hong Kong will have the right of abode there as a matter of law. Paragraph 3(12) of the Joint Declaration provides that the basic policies of the People's Republic of China stated in the Joint Declaration and the elaboration of them in Annex 1 of the declaration (including the right of abode provisions in Section XIV) will be stipulated in a Basic Law of the Hong Hong Special Administrative Region, and will remain unchanged for 50 years.
Thus the nationality provisions of the Order and the right of abode provisions in the Joint Declaration together guarantee a form of British nationality and a place to live as a matter of right until about the middle of the next century. Clearly it would not be sensible for me to attempt to judge what the position will be by then. But the Government do not believe it would be right to grant British nationality whether British citizenship or British Overseas citizenship - indefinitely to future generations born outside the United Kingdom. This would be contrary to the principles underlying the British Nationality Act 1981. Our present view is that by the middle of the next century it would be right to expect those who will have been living in
/this region
K Sital, Esq, JP