TNAG-1081-FCO40-1331-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 183

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RECEIVED BY 2RAMRY NO. 51 3 - MAR 1981

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

93A

REGISTRY

PA

Action Taken

For your background information I record my views on the proposals from Hong Kong, having in mind what is coming from the other dependencies.

remain uneasy.

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Pam 3013

2. In the record of the meeting between unofficials and the Home Secretary on 6 February and in the letter from the MPs who recently visited Hong Kong there is a repetition of the suggestions that there has been a change from paragraph 70 of the White Paper to what is proposed in the Bill, and this has upset Hong Kong. I do not believe that paragraph 70 of the White Paper could have been regarded by any thinking person as implying, to use the terms of the note of the meeting of the Home Secretary and Unofficials, that 'Civil Servants in Hong Kong would be given privileges which the Bill did

In fact the Civil Servants themselves, in the grubu not in fact provide'. grueruar Orlan petition which is the subject of so much concern, specifically stated

their assumption that paragraph 70 of the White Paper did not cover them. It is dishonest for Hong Kong to be suggesting otherwise now. It is not a vital point in itself but it is disquieting.

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3. My principal disquiet is that though I can understand that the people concerned want to have some assurance of escape from Hong Kong in certain eventualities I do not find it natural or credible that they should regard naturalisation at that time as the method of achieving this. Compare the situation in the Falkland Islands where there is no suggestion of using naturalisation to achieve that objective.

4.

I am not reassured by the Governor's statement in his telegram No 160 of 18 February, para 4, that he would not be very worried if applications from Crown Servants were refused or perhaps deferred.

"After all, people here are not thinking in terms of immediate naturalisation. They are only concerned that the possibility of their being naturalised, if and when very good reasons arise for them to seek it, is not ruled out completely as it is in the Bill". It depends what the Governor means by 'when very good reasons arise'. This line is different from the views expressed in the Governor's telegram No. 129 of 10 February,

166 para 6, when he clearly envisaged Crown Servants obtaining naturalisation earlier 'To provide stability and administration which in some future situation might be essential'. In their petition the Crown Servants themselves were envisaging obtaining naturalisation in advance of a crisis situation too. For reasons I gave in an earlier minute it is

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