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Question: What is the status of the Government working along with the Chinese on the SAR passport for holders of the SAR passport in the future after 1997, as far as their travelling level of freedoms like the ones like the current BNO or foreign passport holders are enjoying?
Governor: That's a subject like right of abode which we're discussing with Chinese officials at the moment and I very much hope it can be resolved reasonably soon. It raises interesting and difficult issues against a background of the rest of the world becoming more restrictive rather than more free in its attitude to visa-free travel. At the moment, if you are a CI holder and basically will be an SAR passport holder in future, you don't actually have visa-free access to many places. What we would like to be doing sooner rather than later is talking to other countries, with China, about visa- free access for both BNO passport holders after 1997 and SAR passport holders, and roughly the figures aren't quite as simple as that - but roughly you're talking about 50% of the population of Hong Kong under each heading.
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There are present differences which obviously cause debate. At present if you're a British passport holder of any sort, not surprisingly you enter Britain without a visa; if you're a Hong Kong resident but not a British passport holder, you need a visa, and that's reflected in a lot of European countries and others too. So it's part of that nexus of issues which I was talking about earlier, involving visas, involving passports, involving right of abode - hugely complicated but very important to ordinary families, to all families, and an issue, therefore, which, if we could settle it, would I think give a great supercharge of confidence through the community.
Question: Sir, we are representing and we're part of the garment exporters, and we're extremely concerned, primarily I think, about the manufacturing in Hong Kong, and secondly, about the utilisation of quota because we really cannot manufacture sufficient garments here anymore, yet we have a difficult time getting enough quota in China for our production. My question really is whether the Hong Kong Government is negotiating with the other countries, maybe in some form of a scheme of converting the Hong Kong quota for us to use in China or somewhere else?
Governor: This is where I'd like to hand over the answer to my Private Secretary who previously worked in the Trade and Industry Branch, and if he were standing at the podium, rather than flannelling he would give you an eloquent, accurate reply which would more than satisfy you. But since I'm here, I'll have to say that I'll write to you.
Thank you very much indeed. I knew I should have stopped with the previous question.
End/Thursday, July 6, 1995