TNAG-2185-FCO40-3122-Ethnic-minorities-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 194

Council of Hongkong Indian Associations

Member Associations:

THE INDIAN CHAMBER

OF COMMERCE

THE HINDU ASSOCIATION

c/o TST P. O. BOX 95106, HONG KONG

Telex: 43500-HARI-HX Fax: 3-693331 Tel: 3-7218844

THE INDIA ASSOCIATION THE INDIA CLUB

THE KHALSA DIWAN

In Hague

• THE HONG KONG INDIAN WOMEN'S CLUB

• THE NAV BHARAT CLUB

The Rt. Hon. Douglas Hurd, M.P., Foreign Secretary,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, King Charles Street,

London SW1,

England.

{

7th December, 1989.

IK)

You are purpining Susting by 4112

Miss Marsden

£71/12

MA Morge /12/10

Niform....

Adair

I regret very much that I was unable to attend our scheduled meeting in London last month, but I unfortunately fell ill on the day I was planning to leave Hong Kong. Nevertheless, I am extremely grateful for the time accorded to my colleagues Mr. K. Sital and Mr. Lachman Narain. I understand that they had a most useful meeting with you.

The purpose of this letter is to enlarge upon a point raised by Messrs. Sital and Narain in their discussions with you, that the actual number of ethnic minority BDTCs with no other form of nationality available to them may be far less than the figure of 11,985 put forward by the Hong Kong Government in 1985. We give the following reasons for this assumption:-

(i)

(ii)

بات

The Hong Kong Government's figure was apparently obtained from an Immigration Department list of non-Chinese individuals who had been issued with BDTC passports. Many of these people have left Hong Kong since 1985 and have obtained permanent residency in countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia. They will therefore be eligible for the citizenship of that country upon completion of the residency requirements.

Some ethnic minority BDTCs also hold the passport of a second country. There are countries such as the United States, Portugal and Pakistan which allow dual nationality.

12/12

President: MR. H. N. HARILELA, OBE LLD JP Vice President: MR. G.B. MAHBUBANI Secretary-General: MR. K, B. RATHI

Chairman: MR. K. SITAL JP

Council Members: MRS. KAMLA KAPAHI

MR. LACHMAN NARAIN