TNAG-1385-FCO40-1833-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-citizenship-1985 — Page 253

(copy attached for convenience). Both the draft White

Paper and Order have been agreed with the FCO, and with

Hong Kong officials, and with the Executive Council of

Hong Kong (EXCO), with the exception of one matter of

principle which is considered at paragraph 19 below.

The commentary provided in the draft White Paper is

largely self-explanatory, but Ministers will wish

particularly to consider the following matters.

Connections with Hong Kong

9.

The first part of the Order defines those persons

who hold British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC)

by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong. This proved

to be a difficult task, since BDTC is the common

citizenship shared by all those connected with a

Dependent Territory, without any distinction being made

between them. The Order therefore sets out in Article 2

a generalised formula which is designed to encompass all

the ways in which a person can be connected with Hong

Kong. This formula is supported by a list (Annext 2)

which sets out in detail the 33 ways in which a person

might have become a BDTC by virtue of a connection with

Hong Kong. The list is thought to be comprehensive.

But we do not discount the possibility that there may

somewhere be a person whose essential connection is

with Hong Kong, and who falls within Article 2 of the

Order, but who does not in fact appear on the list. The

list is not therefore intended to be part of the Order

but only informative to illustrate Article 2.

10.

It should also be emphasised that of the approx-

imately 34 million BDTCs in Hong Kong the vast bulk of

them (about 3.19 million) are BDTCs by birth and about

53,000 by registration or naturalisation. Most Hong Kong

BDTCS will therefore fall within Article 2(1)(a) and the

remainder of Article 2 will be populated by a very small

number of people (indeed we cannot say with confidence

that all the sub paragraphs of Article 2(1), or all the

33 categories in the list are populated at all: but

provision needs to be made for them).

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