HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
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5 July 1989
2079
under British administration, and able to demonstrate all the advantages of a free market economy, would become just another southern Chinese city.
There will be little need for a separate economic or social system unless people remain in Hong Kong who are self-confident and imbued with the staunch entrepreneurial spirit which together with a sound administration has been a major reason for Hong Kong's extraordinary achievements.
P
On the issue of nationality, we are all disappointed by the rejection of our request for the right of abode for all Hong Kong British subjects. Although the argument of the FAC is contradictory, the insurance or "safety net" position we have taken has not yet been accepted in the United Kingdom and we must now consider how best to re-marshal our case.
I remain convinced that almost everyone wants to stay. Most people are held here by the strength of their family and material commitments and are most unwilling to break their links with a strong and vibrant culture. They know that in leaving they face the prospect of moving to lower-status jobs with lower pay in lands whose cultures and business climates are unfamiliar to all but a few.
The sections of the FAC report dealing with nationality make disappointing reading in that they show the members to have totally underestimated the strength of Hong Kong feeling following the events of 4 June. To observe that the people's concerns have merely been "intensified" is to grossly understate the position.
However, despite our strong feelings, we must continue to act in a responsible and dignified fashion. We must remember that ideally our priority should be not so much to seek the right of abode in the United Kingdom per se, but to create the conditions in which Hong Kong people positively want to stay here - British passport
or not.
I believe that closer reading of the minutes indicates that there is perhaps little more support for Hong Kong's position than may be inferred from the main body of the report. For example, the principle of "right of abode of last resort" is certainly a complex one but it is a concept that might not be impossible to work out, given the will and the intellect.
In the various amendments proposed to paragraph 4.16 the FAC was almost equally divided on this issue, with only a narrow rejection for the suggestion that the British Government should explore within the European Community the possibility of granting full British citizenship to the BDTC population of Hong Kong in the event of a fundamental breach or abrogation of the Joint Declaration by China after 1997. This of course falls short of our immediate restriction of the rights of the British subjects and is therefore not what we want, but nevertheless it indicates some sympathy in the United Kingdom on which we can build further support for our primary objective.
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