TNAG-2185-FCO40-3122-Ethnic-minorities-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 149

From the Secretary of State

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SWIA CH

22 January 1990

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IN REGISTRY

1 8 JUN 1990

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Action Taken

Dear Thr! Huniteta

Thank you for your letter of 29 December about the position of the non-Chinese ethnic minorities in Hong Kong under the nationality package and for your earlier letters of 11 November and 7 December, copies of which you sent to Sir Geoffrey Howe and Francis Maude. I was also grateful for the opportunity to discuss the Council's concerns with Mr Sital and Mr Narain during their visit to London in November. As you may know, my Parliamentary Private Secretary, Tim Yeo, also met Mr Sital and Mr Narain in Hong Kong on 16 January.

I have taken very careful note of all the points you make in your letters. In reaching the decision which I announced to the House on 20 December, the Government took fully into account the arguments put to us by the Council on behalf of the non-ethnic Chinese minorities. We concluded that we could not treat this group as a special category within the scheme: the non-ethnic Chinese minorities will be eligible to apply for British citizenship under the scheme and each application will be treated on its merits.

Mr H N Harilela

/As you