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would pose insuperable practical problems.
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DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
It would test
housing, employment,
our capacity in all kinds of areas
transport, inner-city services to an unprecedented
degree. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
reached the same conclusion. We cannot hold out the
prospect of right of abode if we could not in practice
provide it. There would be no more cruel deception than
an insurance policy on which we could not deliver.
In Confidence
The British Government will, however, do everything
we possibly can to meet Hong Kong people's concerns in
this area:
Firstly, we have made clear tht if the worst came to
the worst, Britain would not close the door. We
would do everything in our capacity to help and if
the numbers leaving Hong Kong were larger than we
could deal with alone, we would mobilise support
from the international community. We have already
started discussing this with other countries.
Secondly, we are looking urgently at what changes
can be made to our immigration arrangements to offer
some reassurance to Hong Kong people. We envisage a
scheme which will make some provision for people in
both the private and public sectors on the basis not
only of connections with Britain but also the value
of their service to Hong Kong. We hope to be able
to announce details of the scheme before too long.