HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
18 November 1992
97
香港立法局
一九九二年十一月十八日
97
MR RONALD ARCULLI: Mr Deputy President, I do not really want to commence this debate by splitting hairs with Mr McGREGOR's motion but we do need to be clear what it is that we want from the Hong Kong Government. Looking at Mr McGREGOR's motion and the wording of it, I must say that the issue of nationality of non-Chinese ethnic minorities has been raised for the first time tonight by Mr McGREGOR. If one looks at the motion there is no reference to non-Chinese. But be that as it may, I do not know whether it is in order for him to move an amendment to his motion as far as that is concerned.
Secondly, in terms of the problems of nationality. The way that Mr MCGREGOR has addressed Members tonight is really to deal with situations where there might be and I emphasize there might be members of an ethnic minority in Hong Kong who may be stateless after 1997. As far as I am concerned, Mr Deputy President, the situation really is quite plain. We have people living in Hong Kong that are BDTCs like most of us. There may well be some who are not BDTCs and I am only restricting my comments to non-Chinese ethnic minorities. If they are not, they might hold some other nationality or alternatively they may be stateless. If they are stateless and they have been here for a long time, they are certainly at liberty to apply for BDTC if they qualify. Whatever we wish, we really cannot force any members of our community to become BDTCs if they do not wish to do so anymore than we can ask the British Government or insist that the British Government give them British citizenship instantaneously.
The background to this problem is quite well known to Members but I really want to say a few words on that. Non-Chinese ethnic minorities will become will change if they hold BDTC status today British National Overseas on 30 June 1997 and their children born in Hong Kong thereafter will acquire the status of British Overseas Citizens. In the initial amendment, that particular status could only be transmitted to one generation of non-Chinese ethnic minorities, and after substantial lobbying by the Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations, that was changed to two generations, namely, not only their children but their grandchildren but thereafter they would become stateless. It cannot be transmitted for more than two generations and indeed in 1985 Baroness YOUNG, who was then Minister of State at the Foreign Office, said this in the House of Lords and I quote: "In the unlikely event that any BNOS or BOCs came under pressure to leave Hong Kong and have nowhere else to go, we would expect the government of the day, on a case by case basis, to consider their