NATIONALITY
Should the British Government give all Hong Kong people right of
abode in the UK?
No.
It would be irresponsible to give such an undertaking which no future government could possibly meet.
Provisions for ethnic communities (Primarily Indians) who risk
becoming statement post-1997?
No question of any British Dependent Territory Citizen
becoming stateless. All may retain a form of British nationality. It is open to all British Dependent Territory
citizens to register as British National (Overseas) - and to
apply for British citizenship under British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990.
The British Government is on record that if members of the
non-Chinese ethnic communities ever come under pressure to leave Hong Kong in the future and have nowhere else to go,
the government of the day would consider with particular sympathy any request for admission to the UK.
Why do these assurances not apply to the wider Hong Kong
population?
The assurances have always been directed to those who will
hold only British nationality after 1997. The ethnic
Chinese will by definition not be in this position.
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supps.3.12.PR.JRB