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CONFIDENTIAL
TO PRIORITY HONG KONG
FM FCO
TELNO 922
OF 22163OZ OCTOBER 93
CONFIDENTIAL
MUD 345/5
REGE
25 OCT 1993
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INFO ROUTINE MADRID, ROME, LISBON,LUXEMBOURG, THE HAGUE INFO ROUTINE BRUSSELS, BONN, PARIS, ATHENS
INFO ROUTINE UKREP BRUSSELS
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YOUR TELNO 1638: VISA REGIME FOR HONG KONG BDTCS AND BNOS
1.
The Latest news is that the Schengen common visa regime is now scheduled to come into force on 1 February 1994 at the earliest. This gives us a little more time to consider our approach.
2. Our initial view is that there is no realistic prospect of getting Hong Kong included in a Schengen-wide visa waiver list. To achieve this would mean persuading the two other major Schengen member countries, France and Germany, to lift their welL established visa requirements. Without their support our efforts would be bound to fail. Spain has already made it clear that it will not change its mind about imposing a visa regime on Hong Kong.
3.
In any case we have serious doubts about the wisdom of going over this ground again with Schengen countries so soon after our contacts with them in September. As Mr Goodlad told LegCo on 12 October we have established that Italy, Greece and Benelux have no/no present intention either of placing Hong Kong on a common Schenzen visa list, or of introducing visas for Hong Kong bilaterally. Lobbying now could stir up these sleeping dogs and encourage them to look more closely at the position of
incorrect, BDTCS/BNOS. For example, our lobbying in September flushed out See Lew's that Belgium had been under
minute 20/Nthe misapprehension tht BDTCs were returnable to the UK: which cressed visa-free policy may have been based on that.
their
In short, we think
with thiste it better therefore not/not to lobby further at this stage but
25/10.
for posts to continue to monitor the situation for early signs of further changes affecting visa-free travel for people from Hong Kong.
HURD
1
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