SECURTET DRHIVA
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they will not lose their British nationality on 1 July
1997 by which time, if they have not, already they may
obtain BN(0) passports. If they do not, they will become
British Overseas Citizensautomatically after that date.
In either case, they do not become stateless. After 1997,
if these people do not have the right of abode elsewhere,
they will have the right of abode in the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region as provided for under the Joint
Declaration and reflected in Article 24(2)(6) of the Basic
They will, at the same time, retain their British
nationality. They will be eligible for British passport
facilities, and for British consular protection in the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This latter is
something that Chinese holders of BN (0) passports will not
be entitled to. The "vulnerability" which some members of
the LegCo Sub-Committee have mentioned should not,
therefore, be an issue in this sense.
Law.
Nor is it apparently an issue in the other sense
vis-a-vis China. I have noted in this connection that the
Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the
Chinese Government, Mr LU Ping, has recently reaffirmed
assurances and informed members of the Indian Chamber of
Commerce on a visit to Beijing, that ethnic minorities
such as Indians might apply for Chinese citizenship as
well as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports
after the change of sovereignty. This is the most obvious
course out of statelessness for anyone not satisfied with
the BN(0) status, and it seems to remove the case for