0491 579838
P.27
14-JUL-1993 14:42
Gallagher
* AMANDURI ET
MR ALASTAIR GOODLAD
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SELECT COMMITTEE 14 JULY 93
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27
If people want to leave Hong Kong after 1997, of course some
people have a right of residence here, a lot have rights of
residence in Canada, the United States, Australia, people have
freedom to travel, in the worst case of course we are signatories
to the Convention on Refugees. But I do not wish to speculate
about huge numbers of people wishing to leave Hong Kong because of
repression because there is no reason to believe that is the case.
CHAIRMAN:
I think this question of people's rights and entitlements leads us
on to a more general analysis of the work of the Joint Liaison
Group.
SIR JOHN STANLEY:
Minister, I am sure you would endorse the importance of the Joint
Liaison Group set up under the Joint Declaration and we note in
your department's memorandum of March that you say that the pace
of work remains disappointingly slow. Could you tell us what you
see as the British government's policy, particularly beyond 1997
when it will be of still greater importance for the people of Hong
Kong, can you tell us what the government's policy will be to
ensure that the Joint Liaison Group remains a viable entity and is
a body that can genuinely and practically and specifically
safeguard the individual rights of people in Hong Kong?
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14-JUL-1993
14:42
Gallagher
TRANSCRI PT MR ALASTAIR GOODLAD
MR GOODLAD: