contravention of the JD.
A 12
4.
It is clear that Chinese leaders are very suspicious of our motives. They appear to believe that by granting passports to key personnel we are seeking to extend British influence in Hong Kong beyond 1997. We cannot expect them to support the package, but our aim should be to dispel their suspicions as far as we can, and to get them to say as little as possible in public.
Consular Protection
5. The Chinese have said publicly that those covered by the scheme would not be entitled to British counsular protection in Hong Kong since China would still regard them as Chinese.
6. We are very unlikely to reach agreement with the Chinese either on a legal or practical basis. The most we can hope for is to agree to differ with minimal damage to confidence in Hong Kong. We cannot in practice guarantee consular protection for beneficiaries of our scheme people in the SAR or China (cf the position of Hong Kong residents presently who travel in China). However, in time we may find that in practice the Chinese will take a more flexible approach than their recent statements indicate. The key seems to lie in renunciation of Chinese nationality (without the requirement to have lived abroad). This would enable the Chinese authorities to recognise the beneficiaries as foreign nationals and thus entitled to consular protection. The Chinese have indicated reluctance to contemplate mass renunciations but there may be scope to explore this option with then.
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