00 HONG KONG
GRS 498
UNCLASSIFIED
FM FCO 0215152 APR 81
203
LAST PAPER
10 O
RELOVED
TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG
UNCLASSIFIED
НКК
نية 3
3 APR 1081
INDEX
منا
PA
Acton Taks
&is.4
PGD 114
see
TELEGRAM NUMBER 340 OF 2 APRIL
NATIONALITY BILL: PROGRESS IN STANDING COMMITTEE
1.
DISCUSSION ON THE NEW CLAUSE 9 BEGAN ON 31 MARCH AND
CONTINUED TODAY.
2. MUCH OF THE DISCUSSION CENTRED ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH HONG
KONG PRESSURE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NEW CLAUSE.
3. MR RAISON AND MR LUCE HAVE EXPLAINED THE STRONG FEELING IN
OTHER DEPENDENT TERRITORIES AS WELL AS HONG KONG THAT THEIR
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UK SHOULD BE RECOGNISED. MR LUCE
SAID THAT HONG KONG IN PARTICULAR HAD DRAWN AN UNFAVOURABLE COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PRESENT POSITION OF THEIR CITIZENS WHO,
AS CUKCS, AUTOMATICALLY ACQUIRED THE RIGHT OF ABODE IN THE UK ON
COMPLETING 5 YEARS ORDINARY RESIDENCE, AND THEIR POSITION UNDER
THE EXISTING DRAFT PROVISIONS OF THE BILL WHEREBY THEY WOULD HAVE
TO APPLY FOR NATURALISATION AS A BRITISH CITIZEN AFTER 5 YEARS'
RESIDENCE IN THE SAME WAY AS AN ALIEN. THEIR FEAR OF A WEAKENING
IN THEIR POSITION AND OF THE SPECIAL LINKS WITH THE UK HAD LED TO
THEIR SEEKING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO OR SOMETHING CLOSE TO IT.
HE EXPLAINED THAT THE FIRST PART OF THE NEW CLAUSE WAS DESIGNED
TO DO THIS AND HAD, AS SOME MEMBERS HAD POINTED OUT, BEEN WARMLY
WELCOMED BY THE DEPENDENT TERRITORIES.
41.
THE SECOND PART OF THE CLAUSE DEALING WITH CROWN SERVICE WAS
TO MEET THE FEELINGS OF INJUSTICE ARISING FROM THE FACT THAT THE
ORIGINAL DRAFT ALLOWED FOR THE DISCRETIONARY GRANT OF BRITISH
CITIZENSHIP TO SOMEONE WHO SERVED THE CROWN OVERSEAS UNDER AN
AGENCY OF THE UK, BUT EXCLUDED CROWN SERVANTS OF A DEPENDENT
TERRITORY GOVERNMENT.
5. MR LUCE UNDERLINED THE UK'S COMMITMENT TO THE DEPENDENT
TERRITORIES ON THE FOLLOWING LINES:
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CLAUSE TO THE DEPENDENCIES IS, AS
I HAVE EXPLAINED, THE RECOGNITION OF THEIR SPECIAL POSITION
1
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