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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
18 November 1992
香港立法局
一九九二年十一月十八日
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Johannes CHAN has pointed out, a BNO or BOC passport is of little practical value if its holder has no right of abode in the country in which that passport is issued. While a BNO passport may be effective before 1997 because the holder still has right of abode in Hong Kong, being a territory under the jurisdiction of the passport issuing British Government, I question how many countries will actually accept such passports after 1997. For how can we expect a foreign country to respect a passport when the government which has issued it does not even undertake to accept the passport holder should he or she be repatriated from such a country?
Mr Deputy President, Britain does not only owe a legal obligation towards her non-Chinese citizens in Hong Kong; she owes them a profound moral obligation as well. For many years ago, many Indians and Pakistanis have come to Hong Kong. Many of them have chosen to give up their own nationality and swore allegiance to the British sovereign in order to become British subjects. Many of these individuals have since rendered valuable service to our community as police or army officers or as civil servants. In turning her back now on these individuals, Britain has shown a total lack of appreciation for their undoubted contributions to Hong Kong.
I therefore call upon the British Government immediately to grant all of them the right of abode in Great Britain, the same right that is available to all full British passport holders. I am told that the number of persons in question is quite small; yet whether the number is 2 000, 6 000 or 10 000 is immaterial. Rather than quibbling about numbers, Britain should take note of the small number of Hong Kong families granted full citizenship under the British Nationality Act of 1990 which have actually left Hong Kong to settle in Britain. Any fear of a large-scale influx of immigrants from this group is entirely unwarranted.
Finally, I would like to say a few words on Mr ARCULLI's amendment. I do not wish this issue today to become a political one. Yet, I am afraid that adoption of Mr ARCULLI's amendment would represent a formal stepping down by this Council from our clear-cut position in 1989, where we demanded that the right of abode should be given to all British citizens in Hong Kong. May I remind Honourable Members that on 5 July 1989, this Council unanimously supported Mr Allen LEE's motion calling upon the British Government to restore "full British citizenship to British subjects in Hong Kong." Mr ARCULLI's amendment, however, seeks only for an assurance of admission of the non-Chinese British citizens in