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5. Mr Ritchie (B2 Home Office), in his minute of 21 March 1990, suggests that the revised Visa Abolition Agreement with the Austrians could cover Hong Kong (see also Mr Henderson's minute of 25 October 1989). May I suggest that interested recipients of this minute inform Mr Thompson of their views and I also suggest, thereafter, that Mr Sainty considers an approach to the Hong Kong Goverment in order to establish their preference (it would be prudent to point out to them however that we do not yet know Vienna's thinking on matter). It would also be useful to have any views on the position of other dependent territories (Gibraltar, as I have already mentioned, is already included in the current agreement).
6. Dr Erlich was sympathetic to my comments about our wish not to do anything which could undermine confidence in Hong Kong at the moment. He mentioned, as an aside, that Austria had been flooded by immigrants from Eastern Europe and that his authorities were therefore particularly sensitive, given Austria's small population, to potential immigration threats, though he acknowledged that people from Hong Kong were unlikely to focus on Austria as a haven should there be a mass exodus from the colony. He accepted all my arguments about returnability of BDTCs to respective dependent territories etc but it was clear from his comments that Austria are a little concerned that, should for example the situation in Hong Kong deteriorate, countries such as Austria may end up with uninvited guests. In response to a specific question I confirmed to Dr Erlich that the Chinese government had agreed to the right of abode in Hong Kong for BN (0)s after 1997 but I would be grateful if Hong Kong Department could let me have chapter and verse, including confirmation of the Chinese government's recognition of the BN (0) passport. Dr Erlich specifically asked for this confirmation.
7. Finally I explained to Dr Erlich that my particular interest was in trying to safeguard Hong Kong's interests but that Mr Thompson took the lead on visa abolition agreements. I said that, once we had cleared our internal lines, we would revert to him.
28 August 1990
2.
L Stephenson
Migration and Visa Department
(CL 418 270 4045)
LS4AAN
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