CONFIDENTIAL
relevant provisions are Articles 9-12 and 14-16 of the CNL, a
translation of which is attached, as Annex B. The Chinese have
hitherto overlooked non-compliance with the procedures for renunciation of nationality in the CNL when Hong Kong residents
whom they regarded as Chinese nationals adopted other
nationalities.)
Our Own Response To Chinese Counter-Measures
11.
Our objective should be to minimise the impact of any
measures taken by the Chinese and to dissuade them as far as
possible from enlarging the scope of such measures. We should
emphasise to them the importance to ensuring that key people in
the civil service, business and other sectors remain in Hong
Kong and our willingness (subject to satisfactory conditions)
to cooperate with them in encouraging such people to stay
beyond the hand-over date. At the same time, we must make the
Chinese aware that whether people's anxieties about the future
can be dispelled will depend to a large degree on their
actions.
12. We are unlikely to be able to persuade the Chinese to
retract statements that they will withhold recognition of passports and rights of abode obtained under the British
nationality package and similar arrangements by other governments. But there is some chance that we might dissuade
them from further unhelpful statements and in due course persuade them in practice to moderate their actions against
beneficiaries of these arrangements.
13. We might consider asking for clarification of the criteria and procedures necessary for renunciation of Chinese
nationality, and hold discussions aimed at a pragmatic
solution. But it would probably be better to delay such
a request until we could be reasonably sure of not provoking a stiffening of Chinese policy on these aspects.
CONFIDENTIAL
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