URGENT BY HAND
To
Secretary for Constitutional Affairs
MEMO
....................... in...........................................
Your Ref......
Date
20 January 1990
dated
عدد
Enquiries relating to Nationality
The OMELCO Standing Panel on Constitutional Development and the OMELCO Special Working Group on Nationality met yesterday (19 January 1990) and they have asked this Office to invite the Administration to comment on the following:-
(a) The Foreign Secretary, the Rt Hon. Douglas Hurd said in the House of Commons on 17 January 1990 that "under Chinese law, full citizens of another country are not dual citizens. It follows that, in the case of the United Kingdom citizens, they are entitled to our consular protection, throughout the world".
On the other hand, according to press reports, Chinese officials have made known that under China's Nationality Law, China will not recognise dual nationality. Hong Kong people of Chinese race will be deemed to be Chinese citizens even if they have acquired a foreign nationality, as long as they have not settled abroad or their application for renunciation of Chinese nationality has not been made and approved; accordingly China will not recognise their claims for consular protection arising from their foreign nationalities.
Members would like the Administration to comment whether the two views above can be reconciled. For example, can a person Chinese by race who have all along resided in Hong Kong and have acquired British citizenship under the nationality package to be introduced to Parliament claim British consular protection in Hong Kong after 1997, and whether, with such a claim, the British consulate can make formal representations to the Chinese Government if necessary?
Constitutional Affairs Branch
22 JAN 1770
Received