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Hong Kong Act 1985:
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agreement. I should be grateful if the Minister who is to wind up would tell the House that this is to be done.
The Government say that they have every confidence that ultimately the 70 countries which grant visa exemption to our own citizens will extend the same privilege to holders of BN(O) passports, and I have no reason to doubt that claim. But the question is not the formal acceptance of the BN(O) passport as a travel document, but whether in practice it enables the holder to enter countries as freely as if he or she were a British citizen. If we ourselves at the airports subject passengers from Hong Kong to delays and extensive questioning, is not our example likely to be copied and even surpassed by others? We appear to be saying that anybody coming here from Hong Kong should obtain an entry certificate which amounts to the same thing as a visa. It means that the passenger has to answer questions put to him by an entry certificate officer in Hong Kong instead by an immigration officer at Heathrow.
I understand that the entry certificate system applies only to persons from the Commonwealth and dependent territories. What happens after 1997? Presumably then we would have to demand visas or letters of consent instead of the entry certificates. Whatever the case may be. I most earnestly support the pleas that have been made by the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon. that we should introduce some system of multiple entry permits. whether as part of an entry certificate scheme, or more widely to cover passengers who need to come here frequently, such as visitors or students. The noble Lord has already pointed out that the Americans have a system of this kind and make no charge to the travellers who benefit from it. My own passport has a multiple American visa which entitles me to go to the United States on an unlimited number of visits for the whole of the time that this passport is valid. If the Americans can do that. I do not see why the British could not follow suit.
Incidentally, we have just increased the charge for an entry certificate from £12 to £24, and that amount has to be paid for each visit. I suggest to the Minister that it would save unnecessary work and would benefit regular visitors enormously if we could stamp a passport, as the Americans do, in such a way as to allow the holder an indefinite number of visits during the validity of the document.
Whatever concessions are made to ease travel from Hong Kong to Britain, the case for allowing non- Chinese to claim full British citizenship by registration remains overwhelming. Some might still await the transfer of sovereignty in 1997 and then take their chances with an application to become Chinese citizens then. But most of the 10.000 people belonging to the ethnic minorities want the certainty of a definite citizenship now rather than a doubtful status which falls short of proper citizenship and leads to statelessness after two generations. In my opinion if this is offered to them, it creates no precedent because there is not another British territory in the world reverting to control by the sovereign power which originally ruled it-unless you admit the case of the Falklands where citizenship has been conferred on those who are not Argentine nationals. Frankly, I
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cannot imagine what would be the knock-on effect which was mentioned by the Minister in another place if we granted this concession.
The only other argument against the proposition which was mentioned by the Minister was that giving these people citizenship would be looked at by the Chinese as indicating that we lack faith in the Sino- non-Chinese which he picked up from a debate which British agreement. That was the only point about the
strongly supported the case which we are advancing; and I must say that this also reinforced my pessimism about the Government's willingness to listen because the debate was very much on the other side yet that was the only point the Minister picked up.
Of course, there are no grounds at all for attributing this reasoning to the Chinese. On the contrary, there are reasons for believing that the Chinese think that we ought to give citizenship to the minorities, who were originally brought into the territory to serve British interests. The newspaper Wen Wei Po, which is taken to reflect the current views of Pekin, carried editorials on January 6th and 7th urging the case of both the non-Chinese and the servicemen; and this morning I had a telex from Hong Kong referring to another newspaper which is even more closely aligned to the views of Peking making uncomplimentary references to the speech which was made by the Minister, and particularly saying that the argument which he put forward concerning the attribution of views to the Chinese that we had no faith in the Sino-British agreement if we made this concession was utterly nonsensical.
If the Minister would kindly reflect on this and revise the views which were expressed by the Minister in another place. I think it would be helpful. I think that the House ought to be told officially from the Government that the Chinese authorities have no particular interest in this matter but, in so far as they would want to express any view at all, it is that our responsibility as the administering power is to make sure that the ethnic minorities who are not fully entitled to Chinese citizenship should be properly taken care of in the interim period.
After last week's debate in another place. the Unofficial Members of the executive and legislative councils issued a statement saying that they were "profoundly disappointed" by the Government's attitude on what they described as the "compelling case" of the non-Chinese and the servicemen; and they went on to accuse the Government of having failed to discharge their moral responsibility to British nationals who have made valuable contributions to Britain and to the Commonwealth. They were right! It will be tragic mistake if we turn down their plea.
8.15 p.m.
The Lord Bishop of Ripon: My Lords, my researches in Dod's Parliamentary Companion today yielded the information that the noble Lords who precede and follow me in this debate are, like me. Balliol men. I am sure this is an entirely unintended juxaposition, but it is nevertheless comforting to be so surrounded by one's fellow collegians. I am grateful to the Government for providing opportunity in your Lordship's House for discussion of this matter and to the noble Lord the Minister for his introduction to it.
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