+
So my argument for Right of Abode is compatible with, indeed essential to, Britain's self-interests. It is the best way to maintain Hong Kong's long-term stability. And it is the best way to enable the millions of people who want to continue to live in Hong Kong after 1997 to do so, secure in the reassurance that they can leave if they need
to.
We have been accused, of course, of opening the doors to a flood of three million plus people. We have been attacked, in terms of barely concealed racism, for proposing that the social fabric of the UK be placed under 'intolerable pressure.'
'My argument for Right of Abode is compatible with, indeed essential to,
Britain's self-interests'
If it comes to pass, I am prepared to contemplate such a necessity, as should anyone who understands the moral and
HONG KONG
practical responsibilities that we have for Hong Kong. But the reality, as all the opinion polls demonstrate, is that Hongkongers are looking for the means to stay, not the avenue for flight to Britain.
And how much better it would be if the British Government was prepared to 're-insure' its risk with the other democratic nations that also have a direct interest in the survival of a free and prosperous Hong Kong.
I am pleased that the UK has accepted the case for a Bill of Rights in Hong Kong and for a speedier move towards representative democracy. We should move as fast on this as Hong Kong opinion wants us to.
But these issues cannot be traded off against the question of nationality. Indeed, concessions on nationality are essential to the successful development of democracy. People will simply not feel free enough to express their true opinions if they are constantly looking over their shoulder at the
prospect of life under Chinese rule, with no possibility of escape.
This is one of those occasions when our national interest also points us in the direction of what is morally right.
Never before has the House of Commons transferred a group of its citizens into the citizenship of another nation, let alone one headed by a totalitarian regime such as that of Deng Xioaping. In eight years time, the same People's Liberation Army that butchers the unarmed demonstrators of Tiananmen Square will be on the streets of Hong Kong.
The price of doing nothing now may well be that the light of freedom is blown out in Hong Kong with as much brutality as we saw on June 4th. As Britain writes the last pages in its long history of empire the greatest danger is that insularity will triumph over Britain's best interests and her honour. It is a crucial test.
Rt Hon Paddy Adhdown MP
12
Westminster Whitehall
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JULY 17, 1989 The House Magazine