XN000022-1996-10-10 — Page 5

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Governor: I will tell you two answers, one of which you may find more helpful than the other. The question of holding a BDTC or in future a BNO passport and right of abode are different questions, and many people will have right of abode in Hong Kong who don't hold a British passport. So I don't quite understand the overlap between those two concepts but maybe I am misunderstanding something very basic and I will certainly have a look at the words you were reading out.

The second and more sweeping point is how soon can we get an agreed and definitive statement on right of abode which can satisfy all those who are concerned about the subject, both in Hong Kong and outside Hong Kong. We know what the concerns are. When I am in Canada, when Anson was in Australia the other week. people were expressing concerns and they were expressing the concern that they would have to come back to Hong Kong before June 30 - before that cut-off point - in order to establish their right of abode.

We have had letters from English public schools, from headmasters, saying all the Hong Kong parents have told them this is going to be essential so could their children leave early next summer term.

Well, in our understanding, in our negotiations with Chinese officials, that is not the case. The situation is more sophisticated than that.

We have been trying to conclude these discussions satisfactorily for some time. We are, I hope, getting close to an agreement on at least the main points but there will still be some issues which I fear we won't be able to reach agreement on. We are pressing for another meeting of experts in the next ten days or so. It matters to you and it matters to us as well. There are questions of adjustments in the law and so on which have to be looked at. So I can assure you that we will continue to press for an agreement and for further meetings with Chinese officials, and I hope we can hammer something out very quickly. And I'm sorry that it's taken so long. But I don't think that anybody can point a finger at Hong Kong civil servants and say they haven't been working hard enough on the issue. We have been trying very hard on the issue but alas, I think it probably, for Chinese officials, raises genuine difficulties about Chinese Nationality Law.

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