E
DR.
LETTER FROM FOREIGN SECRETARY AND HOME SECRETARY TO ALL MEMBERS
OF PARLIAMENT
HONG KONG
A team of officials from our two Departments is now well into
the task of drafting a Bill to provide for the grant of British citizenship to a maximum of 50,000 key people in Hong Kong and their
families. We hope to bring this Bill to Parliament very soon but in
the meantime thought that Members would appreciate a summary of why
the Government has chosen this course.
Our scheme. is designed to encourage people to stay in Hong Kong, not to come to Britain. Talented and enterprising people are
leaving Hong Kong in growing numbers. Countries like Canada and Australia which have selective immigration policies welcome the
doctors, teachers, managers and engineers who are now quitting the
territory. This exodus of professional talent threatens both Hong Kong's prosperity and her good government during the last seven years of British rule.
Ironically, most of these emigrants would prefer to stay in
X Hong Kong. Almost all of them are ethnic Chinese. Their careers
or their businesses are based in the territory. But because of
events in mainland China they also want the assurance of a foreign passport which would enable them to settle abroad if they became convinced that they had no future in the territory. At present, they can normally gain such an assurance only by emigrating and
settling in the country where they hope to acquire citizenship.
The British Government's scheme will give these key people the assurance which they want without any need for them to live in
Britain before they qualify for our citizenship.
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