TNAG-1083-FCO40-1333-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 82

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In attendance

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: Dr. Hon. S.Y. FANG, CBE, JP

Hon. M.G.R. Sandberg, OBE, JP

Hon. T.S. LO, OBE, JP

Dr. Hon. Rayson HUANG, CBE, JP Hon. K.C. CHAN, JP

Mr. M.D. Sargant, JP Administrative Secretary UMELCO Office

Hon. Sir S.Y. CHUNG welcomed Lord Carrington and his party to UMELCO and thanked the Foreign Secretary for finding time in his busy schedule for the meeting. He expressed Members' appreciation of Lord Carrington's efforts on Hong Kong's behalf in securing amendments to the British Nationality Bill and of the Governor's role in representing the views of Members in London. Lord Carrington responded warmly and said he was pleased to have this opportunity to meet Members. He had found his earlier meeting in London with Hon. Sir S.Y. CHUNG and Hon. O.V. CHEUNG useful and the Foreign Secretary paid tribute to the authority and vigour with which the Governor had pressed Hong Kong's representations in London.

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Hon. Sir S.Y. CHUNG said there were a number of points Members wished to raise with the Foreign Secretary :-

British Nationality Bill

Hon. Sir S.Y. CHUNG said he wished

to make it clear that Hong Kong was not attempting to recover its lost rights, but simply to preserve existing rights. The Committee Stage amendments proposed were welcome and were appreciated. They went a long way towards overcoming local objections to the Bill as originally drafted. But there remained one outstanding point of importance, that of nomenclature. As CUKCs, Hong Kong British subjects were citizens of both the UK and the Colonies. Now that a CBDT (HK) would lose his UK Citizenship, it was vitally important that a CBDT should not only retain, but be seen to retain his British national status. There were various formulae by which this could be done, e.g. "British national: CBDT (Hong Kong), CBDT (Hong Kong): British national, etc.". Whatever was inscribed inside the passport should make it clear that as well as being a "CBDT" the subject was a British national. For an international document such as

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