away from them after 1997. The only Government which has constitutional responsibility for upholding the rights and the confidence of Hong Kong people is the British Government. The people of Hong Kong are therefore demanding that their rights of citizenship, including the right of abode in the United Kingdom, should be restored to them by the Government of Britain.
6:4
The people of Hong Kong are demanding the restoration of a right which they once had and which has wide international recognition, the right not to be transferred against their will to live under a Government and political system not of their own choosing. This right has been recognised for the people of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands. Recognition of the right had to contain also the right of abode in the United Kingdom. Though the numbers of people involved cannot be compared, the legalities of the Hong Kong case do appear to be the same. The only Government which can immediately restore the right of migration to the people of Hong Kong without requiring them first to leave Hong Kong is the British Government.
6:5
This demand is being advanced not because people want to leave Hong Kong but in order to make it possible for them to stay. Nothing else would signal as clearly and as unambiguously the loyalty of the British Government to British subjects in Hong Kong as would the restoration to them of the right of abode in the United Kingdom.
6:6
Should fears in Hong Kong produce a massive refugee problem, Britain would be unable to resist the moral pressure from the international community to discharge its moral and legal obligations by admitting all who might wish to come. Such an unplanned and unprepared for event would indeed be a major international disaster.
6:7
China will have an interest in continuing the present way of life of Hong Kong only if Hong Kong continues to make a strong contribution to the Chinese economy. The capacity of Hong Kong to do this is closely intertwined with the morale of its people, which will be reflected in the willingness of the people to stay in Hong Kong. The more its best qualifed people leave now because they have no other guarantee, the less will be the capacity of Hong Kong to meet Chinese expectations, the less will be Chinese interest in preserving Hong Kong's present way of life, and the more will increasing numbers of people want to leave Hong Kong.
6:8
It is for these reasons as much as for any other that representatives of the people of Hong Kong have demanded the restoration of the rights of citizenship to British Passport Holders in Hong Kong, and they have deliberately described the right of abode in the United Kingdom as a kind of "insurance policy", certainly for themselves, but perhaps also for Britain. The demand has received widespread support in Hong Kong amongst citizens and officials alike, including Hong Kong's Governor, Sir David Wilson, and former Governor, Lord MacLehose.
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