10 February 1993
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isu 17 Feb. (12
سل
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Mr S Vickers
Security Branch
нко 345/3
Division 3
RF
Government Secretariat
12 MAR 1993
Hong Kong
Dear Mr Vickers
INCL
VISIT TO LONDON BY MR HOWARD YOUNG, LEGISLATIVE COUNCILLOR
1.
Mr Young called on Mr Hum (AUS) on 26 January. Mr Young riased, inter alia, the following two points:
i)
Travel documents after 1997 Mr Young said he was concerned about the position of those in Hong Kong after 1997 who would be travelling on SAR "travel documents" (he meant by this those who would not be eligible for SAR passports, presumably foreign nationals or stateless persons resident in Hong Kong). He was afraid that the freedom to travel for these individuals might be affected by the fact that on 1 July 1997 they would be issued with new documents unfamiliar to immigration authorities around the world. At present these individuals presumably travelled on Hong Kong certificates of identity. It would be helpful if there could be prior consultation with the Chinese authorites, with the aim of ensuring that the SAR travel documents could be as similar as possible to the (redesigned) certificate of identity. Perhaps the issue of these new documents could somehow even be brought forward before 1 July 1997, by administrative agreement.
Mr Hum said that we would look into this question with Hong Kong and encourage them to give him a response. Mr Young confirmed that he had not yet raised this with the Immigration Department although he planned to do so;
ii)
the acceptability of BN(0) passports. Mr Young said it was a matter of concern to him that BN (0) passports permitted visa-free entry in only a restricted number of countries. Even among Britain's Community partners France and Germany still insisted on visas. He wondered if there was any more we could do to persuade the French and German authorities to change their minds.
2. On (i) it is my understanding that it was agreed at the 4th meeting of the JLG (held in London 22-25 July 1986) that
- certificates of identity issued in Hong Kong before 1 July 1997 would be valid for 10 years and that they would continue to be used until their validity expired.
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