TNAG-1558-FCO40-2122-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-passports-Hong-Kong-(Br-1986 — Page 69

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BACKGROUND

1.

Mr Adley, who is a regular questioner on Hong Kong, is

presumably asking this question in order to have the

Government's position on the record before the debate on the

Hong Kong nationality order in Council on 16 January, in Light

of the Lobbying by the Council of Hong Kong Indian

Associations, who claim that

claim that the Chinese are unlikely to agree to the granting of Chinese nationality to the ethnic minorities

in Hong Kong.

2.

We have agreed that non-Chinese British Dependent Territories citizens, and their children and grandchildren born

after 1997, should be able to acquire a form of British

nationality (BN(0) or BOC) if otherwise stateless. The third

generation born after 1997 could however become stateless.

3.

We raised this question with the Chinese side at the

Last meeting of the Joint Liaison Group in Peking (26-29

November 1985) and asked them to agree to state that they would

consider sympathetically applications from non-Chinese BDTCS

resident in Hong Kong after 1997. They refused to do this but

agreed that we could state that non-Chinese who met the legal requirements might apply for Chinese nationality and that their

cases would be dealt with by the appropriate authorities. The

Communist press in Hong Kong have subsequently taken the unhelpful line that this is a British problem.

4.

We were hoping only to deploy the proposed answer to

Mr Adley in the debate on the Hong Kong Nationality Order in

Council. Given this direct question however we believe we have

no alternative but to reveal our hand now.

5.

The Home Office have agreed the proposed draft reply.