representative of the widest possible range of opinion in Hong Kong, and should be accountable to the people of the territory, whose views may not otherwise be taken sufficiently into account when the Basic Law is drafted.
The Land Commission
This body is also composed of Chinese and British officials, and was formed because land lease sales in recent years have been an important source of revenue for the Hong Kong government. The Commission met for the first time in July 1985 and has agreed that sales each year will be limited to 50 hectares (approximately 125 acres).
The scarcity of land in Hong Kong naturally sets a premium on its use and tends to inflate its monetary value. Government, which owns all land in the territory and has in the past been accused of allowing prices to soar as a means of increasing its revenue, has a duty to control lease sales and prices very carefully.
Consideration must be given to social needs: prices must not be allowed to rise too high, and sufficient land must also be made available for personal housing and for public welfare organisations which cannot make a profit from this essential public resource.
Citizenship and British Nationality
About 2.5 million of the 5 million people of Hong Kong have a form of British nationality — British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC). In 1962 these Hong Kong British nationals were deprived of the right of entry to Britain, which is thus the only country in the world to refuse entry to some of its own citizens.
Whether or not they are also British, 98% of the people of Hong Kong are entitled to Chinese nationality. China regards all those who are of Chinese race as Chinese nationals. Under the Agreement, China has undertaken to grant right of abode in the Hong Kong SAR not only to Chinese nationals but also to nationals of other countries who have acquired residence rights in Hong Kong by being ordinarily resident there for at least 7 years, and to anyone who had the right of abode only in Hong Kong before 1997.
The vast majority of people in Hong Kong appear to accept union with China. There is no wish to leave Hong Kong, still less to come to Britain. Many Hong Kong people feel prouder of their Chinese identity than of eir colonial British one. There is, nevertheless, widespread resentment the devaluation of the British citizenship many people were born with
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or chose to acquire, and a feeling that it is Britain which is demonstrating a lack of confidence in the Agreement, by its insistence on the need to exclude people from Britain and oblige them to remain in Hong Kong. Under British immigration and nationality law, only two groups of people have the possibility of a 'safety net' from Britain - the very rich (who can enter Britain if they have over £150,000 of disposable capital) and paid and unpaid government servants (who may be able to register as British citizens and gain right of abode in the United Kingdom).
The Hong Kong Act
Under the Hong Kong Act, British Dependent Territories status will be taken away from people in Hong Kong and replaced by that of British Nationals (Overseas). The arrangements for acquiring this citizenship, and its rights and responsibilities, will be set out in a Parliamentary Order in Council that will be debated in late 1985 and passed in early 1986.
It is already clear that BN(O)s will not be given a right of abode in Britain, and will not be able to pass on their status to their children. In fact, the status is little more than a travel document facility. Children of non-Chinese BN(O)s born after 1997 will not be eligible for Chinese nationality, so they will be offered British Overseas citizenship [BOC] to prevent them from being stateless. British Overseas citizenship will also be offered to any other BDTC from Hong Kong who does not become a BN(O) and would otherwise be stateless. Like BN(O) status, British Overseas citizenship carries no right of abode anywhere and is not transmissible to children.
BDTCs from Hong Kong who have passports will be able to apply for the new BN(O) status. No details are yet available of the procedures or the cost of acquisition. There is considerable concern in Hong Kong about the international acceptability of the new passports, particularly during the transition period. This concern is based on experience. In the wake of the 1981 British Nationality Act, many British nationals were unable to travel abroad because Britain had failed to renegotiate travel agreements to take account of the new forms of nationality it had created.
Minorities
About 10,000 BN(O)s in Hong Kong will not also be Chinese nationals, because they are of Indian or European descent and not ethnically Chinese. Their children born after 1997 will be British Overseas citizens. Neither BN(O) nor BOC status will give them the right of abode anywhere, and neither therefore offers them an effective nationality. Because China has been generous in granting right of abode in Hong
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