TNAG-1084-FCO40-1334-Implications-for-Hong-Kong-of-changes-in-the-British-nationa-1981 — Page 69

1

Sir E Youde

Loade

NATIONALITY BILL:

MITIZ

340/1

RECEIVED IS PART NO. 51

2 1 JUL 1981

SECRET

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

مل

ا قوت

LETRY

PA

Actio

Pas2717

1308

AMENDMENT ON GIBRALTAR

Ba.

309

fr

BU already noted

on 2717

Mr Freein

1. Mr Jones is minuting to PS/Mr Luce on the problems which will arise for HMG if the amendment now before the Lords in Committee to grant British Citizenship to Gibraltarians is carried. His minute, and the draft letter to the Home Office which is attached, make clear among other points the certainty of a strong reaction from Hong Kong.

See (315)

2. I must underline the seriousness of the risk to relations between the UK and Hong Kong and the need for us to be prepared to move quickly if things do go the wrong way. The best solution would of course be for HMG to decide to reverse the amendemnt in the Commons and to make that publicly clear. But if this is judged to be politically out of the question there would be the danger of Hong Kong putting in demands for equal treatment (ie British Citizenship with right of abode) which would in turn have to be rejected on immigration grounds.

3.

The Governor, at present in hospital, is very much aware of this problem.

He has suggested through Mr Ford that it might be possible to hold the line in Hong Kong by HMG offering to change the nomenclature of the citizenship for the other dependencies to 'British Dependent Territories Citizen'. At the same time he would suggest that in passports this should read 'British: Dependent Territories Citizen'. This is not a formal proposal from Hong Kong and having floated it last

week, the Governor agreed that such contingency planning would be inappropriate until the prospects for the Gibraltar amendment were clearer.

4. I think that the proposal is a reasonable one and, if put forward quickly, might have a chance of acceptance and forestall more extreme demands. I realise the problems over fiddling with nomenclature and in particular over using the term 'British' separately. However, if the Gibraltar amendment were passed, we would be in a new situation where HMG's actions would be seen in Hong Kong as critical indicators of their political attitude towards the Territory. It is not putting it too strongly to say that failure to come up with a reasonable compromise solution could hit confidence in Hong Kong, already rather shaky this year. The Governor has already pointed out that the nationality issue is one of the factors which could contribute to a slide in confidence if wrongly handled.

5. We may need to move quickly on this. Apart from the fact that Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils (UMELCO) will themselves volunteer suggestions as soon as the news of the passing of the Gibraltar amendment reaches Hong Kong, Sir S Y Chung, the Senior Unofficial Member, will be visiting London for the Royal Wedding and will be lunching with Mr Ridley on 28 July.

SECRET

(6.