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CONFIDENTIAL
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BACKGROUND
Talks with China on Hong Kong
1.
25/8
Talks on the 1994/95 election arrangements for Hong Kong began in Peking on 22 April. So far there have been nine rounds of talks and three more are agreed for September. The next round is due 4-5 September.
2.
Progress has been slow but the atmosphere has been businesslike. Following the meeting in Peking on 9 July between our two Foreign Ministers, the negotiations are now focussing on the essential points of substance. There is still much difficult ground to cover and the gap between us is wide. At the ninth round (16-17 August) the Chinese rejected our proposals on functional constituencies and refused to discuss the through train. We cannot yet judge whether this tough line is a negotiating ploy, or a sign that they no longer expect to reach an agreeement.
Ethnic Minorities
3. The Indian Government has in the past raised with us their concern about the position of the Indian community in Hong Kong after 1997. The last time this was discussed was in April during Sir John Coles' talks with his opposite number, Mr Srinivasan.
4. Hong Kong's Legislative Council have been pressing the case for British citizenship for those Hong Kong citizens who have solely British nationality and are of non-Chinese descent, most of whom are of Indian descent. (They are believed to number 2000 families.) In June a delegation from LegCo called on both Mr Goodlad and the Home Secretary. The Home Secretary told them that he had no intention of introducing new legislation to grant British citizenship to this community.
5. Since then the position of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong has been debated in Parliament on 9 July and during the passage through Parliament of two Hong Kong related Orders in Council.
6. During debate on 15 July the Lords voted for a motion calling upon HMG to give "full nationality to members of the non-Chinese ethnic minorities in Hong Kong". In a reply to a written Parliamentary Question by Graham Allen MP on 25 July the Home Secretary again said that he had no plans to introduce new legislation to provide citizenship for this group. He repeated the Government's assurance to the ethnic minorities.
CONFIDENTIAL