TNAG-1080-FCO40-1330-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 45

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FCS/81/11

SECRET

HKK 340/1

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51

9 FEB 1981

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

مالان

PA

REGISTRY Action Taken

15

165 22/2

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT

1.

HKGD

cc PS.

сс

Chief Clerk My Donald My Adams Hd NTD

Mr Rushford, Legal

see (51

Hong Kong: Attitude to New Nationality Legislation

I

Advisors

seef

8

I understand that you are seeing Sir S Y Chung and Mr

O V Cheung from Hong Kong on 6 February. As you know,

they are in London to put the views of the Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (UMELCO). Their

particular concern is the new Nationality legislation.

myself saw them on 2 February. I thought it would be

helpful to let you know what they said and my own reaction.

Sir S Y Chung suggested that, since special consideration had

been given to the particular problems of Gibraltar and the

Falkland Islands, it was important to meet Hong Kong's concerns

as well. While they accepted the need for the new

legislation, it did appear in a very bad light in Hong Kong,

where concerns over the future were real. The impact of the

Bill, as it stood, had been such that the population as a

whole could not necessarily be relied on to stand up against the Chinese in the event (admittedly unlikely at present) of

a crisis with China on the lines of 1967.

2. Mr Cheung then developed the argument. He said that the

wording of paragraph 70 of the White Paper had given them the

impression that there would be provision in the Bill for Crown

Servants in a Dependent Territory to qualify for naturalisation

as British Citizens. However, the Bill and Schedule 1, as

drafted, confined such a provision to people employed by the

Government of the United Kingdom. Hong Kong w

was unique because

it did not have the option of independence. Hong Kong either

remained a Dependent Territory or was taken over by China.

looked to Britain to stand by its obligations to Hong Kong.

He

3. Mr Cheung suggested that there should be enabling

legislation which would allow the Home Secretary discretionary

powers to naturalise Crown Servants in Dependent Territories as

British citizens provided that all the other qualifications had been met. He thought it could be drafted on a contingency

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