TNAG-1381-FCO40-1829-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-citizenship-1985 — Page 176

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CONFIDENTIAL

DESKBY FCO 11113OZ

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DESKBY PEKING 12010OZ

FM HONG KONG 111050Z JAN 85

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 97 OF 11 JANUARY

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INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING

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YOUR TELNO 58: HONG KONG AGREEMENT: NEW NATIONALITY TITLE.

1. I CONVEYED THE COUNTER-PROPOSAL IN YOUR TEL UNDER REF TO EXCO YESTERDAY. SO FAR I HAVE HAD NO REACTION (EXCPT AS IN PARA 2 BELOW).

2. 1 PUT THE TITLE "BRITISH NATIONAL (OVERSAS)'' TO UMELCO UNOFFICIALS YESTERDAY IN THE COURSE OF BRIEFING THEM ON THE HONG KONG BILL. I ALSO EXPLAINED THE CRITERIA WHICH AN ACCEPTABLE TITLE WOULD HAVE TO MEET. THOSE PRESENT, INCLUDING FOUR EXCO UNOFFICIALS (SIR ROGER LOBO, MISS DUNN, MR S.L. CHEN AND MISS TAM), SEEMED RECEPTIVE, AND NO-ONE CAME FORWARD WITH ANY FURTHER SUGGESTIONS.

3. IT APPEARS AS THOUGH BN (0) WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE IN HONG KONG, ALTHOUGH THE ISSUE HAS PROVED SO SENSITIVE THAT I WOULD NOT WISH TO DRAW ANY FIRM CONCLUSION UNTIL I HAVE OBTAINED CONFIRMATION ON TUESDAY 15 JANUARY THAT EXCO HAS NO OBJECTION TO THE REVISED FORMULATION. YOU MAY HOWEVER WISH TO CONSIDER, ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT EXCO'S CONFIRMATION IS OBTAINED ON TUESDAY, HOW YOU WOULD WISH TO INSTRUCT PEKING TO PROCEED IN PUTTING THE MATTER TO THE CHINESE.

4. ONE POINT WHICH WILL HAVE TO BE CONSIDERED IS WHAT CHINESE TRANSLATION SHOULD BE ADOPTED FOR THE TITLE BRITISN NATIONAL (OVERSEAS) ALTHOUGH NEITHER UK LEGISLATION NOR THE FUTURE NEW-STYLE PASSPORT WILL CONTAIN A CHINESE TITLE, ONE WILL HAVE TO BE USED IN HONG KONG WHEN THE TITLE IS ANNOUNCED (AND ALSO ON FUTURE PASSPORT APPLICATION FORMS). THE CHINESE WOULD ALSO BE LIKELY TO ASK HOW WE PROPOSE TO TRANSLATE THE TERM. THE DIRECT TRANSLATION OF BN (0) WOULD BE YINGQUO GUOMIN (HAIWAI) CCC NOS 5391 0948 0948 3046 (3139 1120) AND THIS IS THE ONE EXCO WILL PROBABLY WANT TO ADOPT. A POSSIBLE VARIATION IS TO REPLACE 'GUOMIN' BY GONGMIN' (0361 3046) IN THE ABOVE TRANSLATION. BOTH TRANSLATIONS MIGHT, HOWEVER, FIND DISFAVOUR WITH THE CHINESE (THOUGH **GONGMIN'' WOULD BE BETTER FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW) AND THIS MIGHT JEOPARDISE THE CHANCES OF SECURING THEIR AGREEMENT TO THE ENGLISH TITLE.

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