TNAG-1080-FCO40-1330-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 40

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servants this loyalty could not be guaranteed. They had under- stood from paragraph 70 of the White Paper that civil servants in Hong Kong would be given privileges which the Bill did not in fact provide. The position of Crown servants was causing considerable political concern in Hong Kong. They did not seek free access to the United Kingdom for all these civil servants in times of trouble: indeed many would wish only to live in a place which was not under the control of the Chinese rather than to live in the United Kingdom. They realised that the number of Crown servants in Hong Kong some 150,000 created its own special difficulties and the United Kingdom could not be expected to give them all a guaranteed place of refuge. They hoped that the Government would remain open to suggestions which might be made to improve the terms on which Hong Kong civil servants could be naturalised as British citizens. In the light of this they had in mind, for example, that the Secretary of State should be given a discretionary power to naturalise as British citizens those Hong Kong Crown servants who had served for a specified period and to allow them entry to the United Kingdom if trouble arose. They were worried that some Crown servants, especially those in positions of responsibility, would not be satisfactorily treated by the Chinese and for them access to the United Kingdom would be important. An arrangement allowing them access to a third country would also be helpful.

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The Home Secretary referred to some of the difficulties in meeting the concern which had been expressed, especially in guaranteeing access to the United Kingdom to any substantial number of people. He fully appreciated, however, the strength of feeling and the importance of retaining the loyalty of Crown servants in Hong Kong. He undertook to consider whether anything could be done within the structure of the Bill.

POSITION OF THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG IN THIRD COUNTRIES

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At the moment people from Hong Kong with United Kingdom passports were not always as favourably treated by third countries as United Kingdom passport holders from the United Kingdom itself. For example, they needed visas to enter West Germany. There was concern that the creation of a separate citizenship of the BDT. would increase the likelihood of their being less favourably treated by third countries in the future. Freedom of movement to other countries was essential to the economic wellbeing of Hong Kong. Moreover, it was not clear that following the creation of a citizenship of the BDT they would receive the same level of consular and other protection in third countries as would British citizens, although the Foreign & Commonwealth Office had said that efforts would be made to maintain the existing position. They hoped, too, that the passport carried by citizens of the BDT would be identical to that carried by British citizens. The Home Secretary and Mr. Raison noted these concerns. They explained that many of them were matters more for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office than for the Home Office, particularly the format of the passport. They referred to the difficulties in treating people from Hong Kong differently from those of other dependent

territories. But they undertook to bear in mind the points that had been made.