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CONFIDENTIAL
L M Davies Esq
LAST PAPER
Secretary for Security
Government Secretariat
Lower Albert Road
HONG KONG
22 November 1978
25
GREEN PAPER ON BRITISH NATIONALITY LAW
HKK 340/1
LIVED IN REGISTRY M. 51
2 2 NOV 1978
OFFICER
INDEX
PA
RE
Action: len
CLE
1. Thank you for your letter SCR 39/2091/72 of 6 November about the Nationality Green Paper.
(24
2. I am sorry about the misunderstanding over the reply to Sir Denys Roberts' despatch of 7 July. What happened was this. Following our conversation on 12 September, I sent a record to those concerned here in the FCO and in the Home Office and asked for a draft acknowledgement to be prepared on the lines we had agreed, provided everybody else was content. While I was in Hong Kong, Bill Quantrill received confirmation from the other departments that they had no objection, and so sent off the reply, not realising that I might be pursuing the subject further in Hong Kong. I had not seen the draft of the reply which was despatched; I had envisaged something a little less terse.
3. However that may be, you can rest assured that the points in your second paragraph are firmly on the record here. I understood from our discussion on 12 September that you agreed there was not much to be gained from creating a special category for Hong Kong, and that we should therefore concentrate on getting suitable assurances put into the White Paper, reaffirming HMG's commitment to Hong Kong. I continue to think that this would be the best course in the circumstances.
4.
In fact, it will probably be some time before the problem arises. The Home Office do not now expect the White Paper to be issued during the life of the present Parliament; nor do they expect it to be a matter of top priority for a new government of whatever party. So it looks as though it will be at least two years before a White Paper is published.
CONFIDENTIAL
RJT McLaren
Hong Kong and General Department
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