ETIAPO
REDRAFT OF PARAGRAPHS 9 AND 12 OF ANNEX TO MINUTE TO PRIME
MINISTER
9.
amounts
They
to
a form of
i s
wrong that their
threatened wi th
i s no automatic
The non-ethnic Chinese community argue that this is not
adequate because British Overseas citizenship does not give
them the right of abode anywhere in the world.
therefore maintain that i t
statelessness. They also argue that i t
third generation descendants should be
statelessness, and point out that there
right for such people to acquire Chinese citizenship. (The
Chinese Government, while agreeing that they have the
discretionary ability to offer Chinese citizenship in such cases, have made it clear that they would prefer the British
to solve this
this problem.) The minorities argue that because
unlike the Chinese community in Hong Kong they will not have
automatic entitlement to Chinese citizenship, they deserve
special consideration from HMG. The Government's views on
this request were explained fully by Ministers during
the
debates in Parliament in January. The communities concerned
say that they wish to
to continue
live and work in Hong
Kong. British citizenship cannot give them the right of abode in Hong Kong, which is however secured by the Joint Declaration. Nor would the grant of British citizenship prevent the third generation from becoming stateless, since the BNA only allows the transmission of British citizenship to two generations born Overseas. The only justification for British citizenship to these people in fact would be
giving it would allow them
to the UK after 1997
that do not work out well for them in Hong Kong. We suspect
to
come
things that this is the real motivation
i f
of the people
concerned. However it is by no means clear that it would be right to grant such an insurance policy to this sector of the community alone in Hong Kong. In our view the grant of British Overseas citizenship and the provisions on right of
abode in the Joint Declaration
guarantee
that those
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.