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Portuguese citizens?
(Mr Maude) Many of them may easily be and I would guess are likely to
be. The President of the Council of Hong Kong Indians Association has
estimated that the total number of people of ethnic Indian origin without
another nationality was no more than 3,000 and that the total number of
ethnic minority BDTCs did not exceed 6,000. So if these figures are
right
-
and they cannot be exact figures
-
it would indicate that about
half of them had another nationality.
Chairman
69. Just to confirm our impression a year ago in Hong Kong, the
numbers we are talking about are very small. Without in this session re-
opening the whole question of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Bill,
could you indicate to us whether there are further thoughts, continuing
thoughts, that this tiny group or the even tinier group of war widows or
the wives of British UK expatriates, all of whose cause was raised during
the process of the Bill, are not entirely dismissed but are not entirely
satisfied either?
(Mr Maude) Certainly. I know these remain matters of concern. The
judgment we made on the ethnic minorities was that there was
a very full
undertaking given that, if people found themselves in difficulties,
particularly sympathetic hearing would be given to them. That is a pretty
clear undertaking that provision would be made for people who found
themselves under pressure to leave after 1997. We do not expect this to
arise. Their right of abode is provided for under the Joint Declaration
but, should there be a difficulty, we would come to their assistance.
with that assurance, and bearing in mind the fact that the numbers included
in the package were not uncontroversial to begin with, we judged it right
So
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