Council of Hongkong Indian Associations
c/o TST P.O. BOX 95106, HONG KONG
Telex: 43500-HARI-HX Cable "INDCOUNCIL"
Tel: 3-7218844
Member Associations:
THE INDIAN CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
THE HINDU ASSOCIATION
THE INDIA ASSOCIATION THE INDIA CLUB
THE KHALSA DIWAN
THE HONG KONG INDIAN
WOMEN'S CLUB
THE NAV BHARAT CLUB
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Hong Kong's unique position in the annals of British history cannot be sufficiently stressed: unlike other dependencies, it is not passing from colonial status to independence, but is becoming part of another country with which it has had historical ties. It would be analogous to Gibraltar being handed over to Spain. In other cases where HMG has relinquished jurisdiction over a particular territory upon decolonisation, members of the ethnic minorities enjoyed at least the opportunity to become citizens of the newly independent country. The minorities of Hong Kong will enjoy no such opportunity: the Chinese Memorandum contained in the Joint Declaration makes clear that ethnic Chinese are automatically Chinese nationals while non-ethnic Chinese are not. This means that the minorities will enjoy very different citizenship rights from their Chinese counterparts after 1997. Chinese BDTCs will have an effective nationality, that of the PRC, which by itself will give them the right to live in the country of their citizenship, while the minorities will enjoy no such right. The latter group will instead have to rely on the Government of the PRC for their right of abode in Hong Kong after 1997, a government which, because it will not recognise them as Chinese nationals, will have no ultimate responsibility for them.
The discriminatory nature of the Chinese Memorandum thus leaves the minorities in a particularly vulnerable position after 1997. The only way in which HMG can guarantee these unfortunate few a right of abode anywhere in the world, is to grant them full British citizenship and the consequent right of abode in the UK. Short of this, it is clear that HMG will not be able to guarantee the minorities right of abode anywhere after 1997, not even in Hong Kong.
The minorities are therefore an embarassing loose end in the Sino-British Agreement. It is our views that HMG's Ministers must have tried hard during the negotiations to obtain PRC citizenship for the minorities, but were evidently unable to receive any satisfaction from PRC authorities on this point, coming up against Chinese nationality laws which are even more restrictive than those of the U.K.
It was astonishing to read of Lord Glenarthur's recent comments made in the House of Lords, that HMG would be contravening the provisions of the Joint Declaration if it were to grant the right of abode in the UK to any group of Hong Kong people. Nowhere in the Joint Declaration and its associated Memoranda can we find any specific reference to this point. As far as the minorities are concerned, the PRC has always indicated that they are firstly and lastly a British responsibility and that it is for HMG to provide these people with an effective nationality.
President:
MR. H. N. HARILELA, OBE JP
Hon. Secretary: MR. K. B. RATHI Hon. Treasurer: MR. J. MULCHAND MRS. KAMLA KAPAHI MR. G. B. MAHBUBANI MR. LACHMAN NARAIN
Vice President, MR. K. SITAL, JP Chairman Tel: 5-222852 Council Members: MR. S. A. AMEEN