CONFI
4. My second point is this. If we were now to change our current policy and law on this subject with the result that over 3 million Hong Kong BDTCs would have the right of abode in the UK, a serious question would arise as to whether we were acting in accordance with our obligation under JD30 to administer Hong Kong "with the object of maintaining and preserving its economic and social stability". The sudden granting of a right of abode to this number of people, many of whom might well decide to exercise it in the next ten years or so, could hardly be said to be consistent with this obligation. The Joint Declaration itself,
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its Annexes and the two Memoranda are a package and it is not possible to pick and choose which parts should be complied with. At the very least we would be hard pushed to meet a charge of bad faith levelled at us by the Chinese, even if we could construct a technical legal argument that the Memoranda were not legally binding and could be changed unilaterally.
Clems
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D M Edwards
Legal Counsellor K161
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