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The Plight of the Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong
The Right to full British Citizenship
The Indian community, by far the largest of the ethnic minorities, has had a long history in Hong Kong. They contributed to numerous charitable and public works and assisted in setting up numerous institutions, the most notable being The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Their loyalties were given exclusively to Hong Kong rather than to India, they have contributed significantly to the betterment of Hong Kong through their contributions in commerce and the professions.
Hong Kong reverts to Chinese sovereignty on 1st July, 1997. The ethnic minorities (of which there are 7,000 - 8,000), unlike Hong Kong people of Chinese descent, will not automatically qualify for Chinese Nationality as Chinese Nationality laws are based on race; historical precedent indicates that Chinese Nationality will not be offered to the ethnic minorities. For various reasons, many of the affected minorities would not want to obtain Chinese Nationality even if offered.
On 1st July, 1997 British Dependent Territory Citizenship status will cease to be available to Hong Kong people and in its place will be the British National Overseas ("BNO") or the British Overseas Citizenship ("BOC") status. The BNO and the BOC "passports" are recognised officially by the Chinese Government as travel documents only and are effectively given similar treatment by the British Government as they will not entitle the affected minorities to the right of abode in the United Kingdom or in any British Dependent Territory.
The ethnic minorities will after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997 be effectively stateless and they call on the British Government to give them full British Citizenship. The British Government has a moral responsibility to the affected ethnic minorities as well as a legal responsibility not to render them stateless upon the transfer of sovereignty, this obligation has not been fulfilled by the granting of the BNO or the BOC status.
The ethnic minorities have no desire to leave Hong Kong but without this minimum guarantee, they will have no option but to seek residence elsewhere in the run up to 1997.
Historically, the British Government granted full British Citizenship to the Ugandan and Kenyan Asians upon the transfer of sovereignty to the newly created independent states. The Ugandan and the Kenyan Asians were entitled to this as of right. They were also entitled to obtain the nationality of their new host nation. These rights are denied to the affected ethnic minorities.
The British Government has stated that if any British Nationals came under severe pressure to leave Hong Kong, the [British] Government of the day would consider with "considerable and particular sympathy their case for admission to the UK". This oral assurance does not allay the worries of the ethnic minorities particularly given the treatment of the East African Asians by the British Government when they were forced to flee Uganda in the late 1960s.
The rights of the ethnic minorities to stay in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are not free from doubt.
INDIAN RESOURCES GROUP
Dated 25th May, 1993.