4
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1985
+FINALLY, MR CHEUNG ASKED WHETHER NOTE 7 IN CURRENT BDTC PASSPORTS WILL APPLY TO BN(0) PASSPORT HOLDERS. THE NOTE IN QUESTION, WHICH MR CHEUNG HAS QUOTED, STATES THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S POSITION IN DEALING WITH BRITISH NATIONALS WHO ARE ALSO NATIONALS OF ANOTHER COUNTRY. THIS POSITION, WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH ACCEPTED INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE, APPLIES TO ALL BRITISH NATIONALS, INCLUDING THOSE WHO BECOME BN(O)S IN FUTURE. AS REGARDS THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH AN INDIVIDUAL OWES TO HIS COUNTRY, THIS IS A MATTER FOR EACH COUNTRY TO DECIDE AND STIPULATE. SUCH OBLIGATIONS WOULD NORMALLY INCLUDE RESPECT FOR THE COUNTRY'S CONSTITUTION OR ADHERENCE TO ITS LAWS, PAYMENT OF ITS TAXES, AND SO FORTH.
+1 COME NOW TO THE POSITION OF THOSE WHOM MR CHEUNG AND MR CARL TONG HAVE DESCRIBED AS THE ETHNIC MINORITIES IN HONG KONG. I FULLY ENDORSE MR TONG'S OBSERVATION THAT HONG KONG HAS BEEN WELL SERVED BY ITS MINORITIES AND, IN SO MANY WAYS, HONG KONG'S SUCCESS HAS DERIVED FROM ITS COSMOPOLITAN DIMENSION.
+OF COURSE, MANY OF THOSE WHO ARE LIVING AND WORKING IN HONG KONG AND WHO ARE NOT CHINESE BY RACE ALREADY HAVE THE NATIONAL I TY OF THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND, IN ANY CASE, THE POSITION OF THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE BRITISH NATIONALITY IS NOT FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO DETERMINE. SOME, HOWEVER, ARE HONG KONG BDTCS, AND HONG KONG DBTCS ALONE, AND IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT THEY WILL NOT HAVE CHINESE NATIONALITY AUTOMATICALLY WHEN SOVEREIGNTY OVER HONG KONG IS RETURNED TO CHINA. THE POSITION OF THESE BDTCS IS THAT, IN THE SAME WAY AS ALL OTHER BDTCS WHO HAVE DERIVED THE IR STATUS FROM THE IR CONNECTION WITH HONG KONG, THEY WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO ACQUIRE THE STATUS OF BRITISH NATIONAL (OVERSEAS). THOSE OF THEM WHO FAIL TO DO SO. FOR EXAMPLE BY MISTAKE OR ACCIDENT. AND WHO AS A RESULT BECOME STATELESS, WILL ACQUIRE BRITISH OVERSEAS CITIZENSHIP. SECRETARY OF STATE, SIR GEOFFREY HOWE, HAS STATED CLEARLY IN PARLIAMENT THAT THE CHILDREN BORN AFTER 30 JUNE 1997 TO SUCH NON-CHINESE BN(O)S OR BOCS WILL ACQUIRE BIRITSH OVERSEAS CITIZENSHIP AUTOMATICALLY AT BIRTH IF THEY WOULD OTHERWISE BE STATELESS. THERE SHOULD, THEREFORE, BE NO QUESTION OF STATELESSNESS AMONG THOSE WHO ARE HONG KONG BDTCS ON 30 JUNE 1997, OR AMONG THE CHILDREN BORN TO THEM AFTER THAT DATE.
THE
+I APPRECIATE, HOWEVER, THAT WHILST THE FIRST GENERATION BORN AFTER 30 JUNE 1997 TO FORMER HONG KONG BDTCS OF NON-CHINESE RACE WOULD THUS BE TAKEN CARE OF. THERE IS CONCERN ABOUT POTENTIAL STATELESSNESS AMONGST SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS. IT IS A LONG STANDING VIEW OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT THAT IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE, AS A GENERAL PRINCIPLE, TO GRANT BRITISH NATIONALITY INDEFINITELY AND WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS TO THE DESCENDANTS OF BRITISH NATIONALS. HOWEVER I WOULD NOT WISH TO GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT THE CONCERN EXPRESSED ABOUT THIS MATTER IS NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD. SO THE PROBLEMS OF SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS AND POTENTIAL STATELESSNESS ARE BEING EXAMINED BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN CONSULTATION WITH OURSELVES.
/+IN CONCLUSION,