TNAG-1565-FCO40-2130-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-passports-Hong-Kong-(Br-1986 — Page 27

SOMA KİM LİVEN LA

MAY.02 '86 11:19 GMT HO 2 LUNAR HOUSE

HONG KONG NATIONALITY ORDER IN COUNCIL

DRAFT OPENING SPEECH

P.01

1. The draft Nationality Order which is before the House today implements the nationality provisions of the Sino-British Agreement on the future of Hong Kong.

2. The Order and today's debate represents the culmination of a long period of careful work during which there have been extensive consultations with Hong Kong and frequent references to this House which have led us to make a number of amendments to our proposals. In December 1984 this House discussed and wholeheartedly approved the Government's intention to sign the Agreement on the future of Hong Kong negotiated with the Chinese Government. During that debate the Government explained its proposals for the future nationality of the people of Hong Kong, which were described

The Government's in the United Kingdom Memorandum associated with the Agreement. proposals were set out in the Schedule to the Hong Kong Act 1985 which the House also

Jobuil bunJE BIL AIK DAR BAIInd aaply list por. Duning the nnlinga debaked in of these debates we agreed to extend the statelessness provisions to the grandchildren

And of former British Dependent Territories citizens if they were born stateless. the Government agreed that the House would have an opportunity to consider and debate

The the draft of an Order in Council before it was formally laid before Parliament. text of the draft Order was annexed to the White Paper published last October, and was debated in this House in January.

3. It is right that the matter should have been dealt with in this careful way and that Parliament should have been given such a full opportunity to consider the proposals. Fair and comprehensive nationality arrangements are vital to the future of people in Hong Kong and for the successful implementation of the Agreement we have reached with the Chinese authorities. The Government gave very full and careful

We have again moved a long consideration to all the points raised in these debates.

way to meet the wishes of Hong Kong and expressed in this House, and we believe that the proposals now before the House deserve its wholehearted support.

4.

The Order which is before the House today will come into effect on 1 July 1987. That will give third countries time to get used to the new passport, and will enable passports to continue to be issued with the normal 10 year validity period, since passports describing the holders as British Dependent Territories citizens could not be given a validity beyond 30 June 1997. Parliament is being asked, therefore, to approve the Order now so as to give enough time for all the detailed administrative work which needs to be done before next July.