TNAG-2158-FCO40-3078-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-Chinese-views-1990 — Page 46

SECRET

SECRET

FM HONG KONG

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 1048

OF 26114OZ MARCH 90

INFO IMMEDIATE PEKING

HKC340/1

INFO PRIORITY UKREP JLG HONG KONG

340/1

46 MAR 1990

87

122554 MDHIAN 5891

Ра

Y

MY THIRD IPT: UK NATIONALITY SCHEME : BRIEFING THE CHINESE: DRAFT SPEAKING NOTE ON THE PACKAGE AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION

1. OUR COMMENTS ON THE DRAFT SPEAKING NOTE IN YOUR TELNO 642 ARE AS FOLLOWS:

f

(A) PARA 4: THE EXPRESSION 'SUPPORTED BY THE ICAC IS INCORRECT: THE COMMISSIONER, ICAC IS ONLY ONE OF THE MEMBERS. IN ANY CASE, WE DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS DESIRABLE TO HIGHLIGHT THE ROLE OF THE STEERING GROUP AT THIS STAGE AND SUGGEST DELETING THE PARAGRAPH.

(B) PARA 5, FOURTH SENTENCE: REFERENCES TO NEARER 1997'' AND ''WHO MOVE INTO KEY POSITIONS'' WHILE TECHNICALLY CORRECT, ARE LIKELY TO FUEL CHINESE SUSPICIONS. IN PARTICULAR, THIS INVITES THE CHINESE TO ASK : ''WHAT ARE THESE KEY POSITIONS?'' WE SUGGEST THIS SENTENCE SHOULD READ AS FOLLOWS: ''THE REMAINING 14 PER CENT WILL BE RESERVED FOR DISTRIBUTION AT A LATER STAGE.''

(C) PARA 6: WE SHOULD MAKE CLEAR THAT IT IS BDTCS ''WITH A CONNECTION WITH HONG KONG'' WHO WILL BE ELIGIBLE: ALSO BOCS, BPPS AND BSS WILL NOT HAVE TO APPLY FOR BDTC STATUS. WE SUGGEST A SEPARATE INDENT TO COVER HOLDERS OF HK CERTIFICATES OF IDENTITY.

(D) PARA 8: WE THINK THAT LOGICALLY THIS PARAGRAPH SHOULD COME BEFORE YOUR PARA 7. WE ALSO SUGGEST THAT THERE IS NO NEED TO MENTION THE PERCENTAGE OF PLACES ALLOCATED TO EACH GROUP. IF THE PERCENTAGES ARE NOT INCLUDED, THERE IS THEN NO NEED TO MENTION THE QUOTA FOR ENTREPRENEURS AS THEY WILL BE COVERED UNDER THE CATEGORY OF ''BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT''. WE ALSO CONSIDER THAT THIS PARAGRAPH SHOULD INCLUDE AN INDIRECT REFERENCE TO THE SENSITIVE SERVICE SCHEME: TO LEAVE IT OUT WILL ONLY AROUSE CHINESE SUSPICIONS.

(E) PARA 9: WE DO NOT THINK THERE IS ANY NEED TO MENTION THE STEERING GROUP (SEE (A) ABOVE).

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