TNAG-1856-FCO40-2631-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-memoranda-and-minutes-of-me-1989 — Page 167

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

28 June 1989

香港立法局——一九八九年六月二十八日

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MR. ALLEN LEE: Sir, Dame Lydia DUNN and I went to London last week. We had with us a mandate from OMELCO to present to the British Government Hong Kong's case for a right of abode for British subjects and a safe and secure future for the whole population. Our theme can be generally summarized as follows:

Hong Kong is our home. We do not want to leave. To stay, our anxieties must be allayed. Our anxieties can only be allayed if there is an insurance policy. Britain has the power, the responsibility to provide us with the right of abode in Britain.

We explained to the British Government and the British public that people born in Hong Kong are British subjects. Others have become naturalized British subjects. They have no other national status. Nearly all have renounced all claim to Chinese nationality in order to become subjects of the British Crown. Like British subjects elsewhere, they owe loyalty and allegiance to their sovereign. In return, they are entitled to governance and protection. They look to their sovereign for civil rights and personal safety, both at home and when they travel abroad. There are now some 3.25 million Hong Kong British subjects.

Hong Kong is an economic miracle. It ranks eleventh in the league of the trading nations. It has the largest container port in the world. It is the world's largest exporter of watches and radios and the second largest of garments and toys. It is one of the leading financial centres of the world. In the last decade, it has maintained economic growth averaging over 8% per year. The average per capita income of its population at US$9,600 is second only to Japan in Asia. These achievements have won for Hong Kong the admiration and respect of countries around the world. They are the achievements of an industrious people for it has no natural resources except a deep water port. Is it any wonder that the people of Hong Kong do not wish to leave a place in which they have settled and prospered?

Since the signing of the Joint Declaration, many people in Hong Kong have sought an insurance policy in the form of a second passport so that if the promises in the Joint Declaration are not kept, they will at least have an alternate home, a home of last resort. The anxious search by increasing numbers for this form of insurance in the last few years has been disruptive to the community and threatens the territory's economic growth. Some have left for good. Many families have had to be separated with one spouse living thousands of miles away in the United States, Canada or Australia to qualify for residency. It is sad to see families torn apart because they are worried for their future.