32
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
18 November 1992
93
香港立法局
一九九二年十一月十八日
93
нко 340/4-
NATIONALITY OF ETHNIC MINORITIES
RECEIVE
05 JAN 1993
MR JIMMY MCGREGOR moved the following motionDESK OFFICER
INDEX
L'A
GISTRY
Motion Taken
"That this Council urges the Government to examine the problems faced by the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong in terms of their nationality before and after 1997 and to take such steps as may be open to it to ensure that citizens of the ethnic minorities who have lived in Hong Kong as permanent residents for many years do not become stateless in 1997."
MR JIMMY MCGREGOR: Mr Deputy President, I will not take long to set out the basis for my motion. It is well known to all Members of this Council and, of course, to Hong Kong residents as well. I refer to the presence in Hong Kong of long-term citizens and residents of non-Chinese race who do not have the right of abode in any other territory and who may, or may not, hold BDTC or BOC passports. They are not therefore nationals of any other country and they do not qualify for Chinese nationality unless they choose to make a specific application to become so once the Chinese authorities promulgate the regulations on this matter. Most of them could be effectively stateless in 1997 if they do not wish to become Chinese nationals.
No study has been carried out to my knowledge to determine the parameters of the problem and the Hong Kong authorities have not attempted to ascertain its scale, the composition of those affected or whether there may be solutions of one kind or another. It is a problem which has been experienced elsewhere as the British Empire has given way to the British Commonwealth and to the return of most of the countries concerned to independence and territorial sovereignty. This process was rapid after the Second World War and many newly restored countries were left with the sad human detritus of those who did not really belong but who had nowhere to go. All over Africa and Asia large numbers of settlers, many of whom have lived in the territories most or all of their lives, found that they were unwanted and often discriminated against. The so-called mother country provided a new home for some but not for all. The great problem of the East African Indians comes readily to mind. The reluctance with which they were accepted into Britain after detailed and sometimes humiliating discussions stays clearly in mind. The unwillingness of Britain to accept more such people led to progressive tightening up of the British nationality and immigration laws in the 1960s and 1970s. Over a relatively