March 1990 Page 3
6.
The 225,000 benefitting from the Government's proposal represent only about 4% of Chinese in Hong Kong, and the selection criteria should ensure that those 225,000 will in the vast majority of cases not be a financial drain on the UK. Again, the English language is widely taught and understood in Hong Kong especially among the younger generation and the type of people likely to be selected. Finally, Hong Kong is itself a multi-racial society without significant racial tension and the likelihood of racial tension in the UK emanating from the likely selected Hong Kong Chinese is remote.
The economic benefits to the UK of Hong Kong Chinese migrants is exaggerated, particularly since they might choose to apply their wealth outside the UK, would bring little new technology to the UK, and would find it more difficult to create new wealth in highly-regulated UK.
Hong Kong Chinese businessmen, as any other businessmen, will invest their wealth where they can perceive the best returns. If it were to be the case that Hong Kong Chinese businessmen resident in the UK saw better business opportunities outside the UK, that is more a comment on the UK rather than the businessmen. Whilst it is true to say that Hong Kong is typically a medium- rather than a high-tech business environment, Hong Kong business know-how and investment is much sought after by various UK regional development agencies who clearly take the view that there is significant employment- generating investment to be captured from Hong Kong.
And Hong Kong itself is continuously becoming more regulated according to international standards, and so Hong Kong business is now used to thriving in a more stringent environment.
There are two other priorities which Conservatives Abroad in Hong Kong expect to see addressed and satisfactorily dealt with by the Government in the debate in Parliament on the implementation of the proposals:
1.
Simply
There should be relaxation of the rules for granting full British citizenship to Hong Kong Chinese spouses of British citizens on the lines of the paper presented to the UK Government and many Conservative MPs in September 1989. put, the recommendation of the paper would allow the Hong Kong Chinese spouse to qualify for full British citizenship by living with his/her British spouse as man and wife for three years in Hong Kong as an alternative to the current requirement of living in the UK. The retention in Hong Kong of expatriates is as valuable as of Hong Kong Chinese, and this proposal of Conservatives Abroad (Hong Kong) will tend to serve that
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