TNAG-2185-FCO40-3122-Ethnic-minorities-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 71

available to the other members of the non-Chinese ethnic

minorities in Hong Kong would also apply to them. The

non-Chinese ethnic minorities' right of abode in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong is explicitly protected in the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. In addition, the Government has already given the ethnic minorities a further assurance by providing subsequent children and grandchildren of those who are British Dependent Territory citizens prior to

ve

1 July 1997, with British Overseas citizenship if they

would otherwise be stateless.

The Government have on many occasions given an assurance that if any solely British national, with no claim to Chinese nationality, came under severe pressure to leave Hong Kong, the Government of the day would consider with considerable and particular sympathy their case for

admission to the UK. That assurance has been repeated on

several occasions during Parliament's consideration of

the Bill.

we dons of with if necrons

For these reasons, it is unnecessary to make special

provision in the Bill of the kind proposed by Mr Ho. Members of the Eurasian community who meet the

eligibility criteria will of course be able to apply for

British citizenship under the Bill in the same way as other people resident in Hong Kong. The position of those who do not qualify for British citizenship under these arrangements will, of course, depend on their

nationality and on their individual circumstances. We

recognise that members of the Eurasian community may well

be unclear about what their position will be and this

uncertainty inevitably causes concern. We shall discuss