TNAG-1381-FCO40-1829-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-citizenship-1985 — Page 163

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CONFIDENTIAL

b) argue that the provisions to guard against statelessness are not

sufficiently spelt out and that the Bill should show the status to be

acquired by those who would otherwise be stateless.

16. Ministers will wish to take the line that the detailed provisions of the

Order in Council have to be fully agreed by Hong Kong, and that there

was insufficient time to do this early enough to meet the need for the

enabling Bill to be passed in time for ratification of the agreement in

June. The timing of the Order in Council has not yet been decided, but it will probably need to be in place by 1986 in order to fit in with the

normal 10-year validity period of passports, and to give Hong Kong as much

time as possible to issue passports to all who want them.

17. On the question of the title Ministers will wish to point out that this

needs to be agreed not only with Hong Kong but also with the Chinese.

But the lack of an agreed title does not mean that the substance is

missing. The new status will equate in all major respects to BDTC, except

for transmissibility.

(If a title can be agreed with Hong Kong and the Chinese it may be

possible to announce it during the Second Reading Debate. It will if

necessary be incorporated into the Bill).

[To be updated in the light of Chinese reactions].

18.On the question of statelessness, Ministers will wish to take the line

that the safeguards are quite explicit. No former Hong Kong BDTC; nor

any child born after June 1997 to such a person, will be left without a

form of British nationality if he or she would otherwise be stateless.

Again the exact form of this nationality will have to be agreed with Hong Kong. It is intended that sucha pasos stund acquie Butil Overseas

Citizenship.

The nationality provisions in the UK Memorandum

19. Another likely area of difficulty will be the nationality provisions set

out in the UK Memorandum itself. Ministers could face criticism both

from those who believe we are doing too much for the people of Hong Kong

and from those who feel that HMG have done too little.

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