like many other countries does not recognise dual nationality. They therefore will not qualify for British consular protection unless
ey are travelling on their BDTC passports outside China and Hong
Kong. There is nothing new about this.
Maintaining the prosperity and good government of Hong Kong is cur duty perhaps our last major imperial responsibility. But it is also very much in this country's interests. Jobs in this country and the profitability of British firms depend upon Hong Kong continuing to thrive. It is our largest market in Asia after Japan, and about 1,000 British companies operate there. It is not just the important Hong Kong companies, but major British enterprises like GEC, Courtaulds and Cable & Wireless who have arged on us the need to provide the assurance of citizenship and a passport to key employees.
If we had offered no assurances on nationality, we would certainly have damaged this country's economic interests. We should also have made more likely a major challenge to our policy of restricting immigration. If confidence within Hong Kong were to collapse completely, then we could expect very large numbers of people to arrive at our airports seeking admission as refugees. numbers involved might make the 50,000 families included in the
JOOK Government's scheme seem very/small numbe
The
Faced with such a situation, the British Government would naturally try to coordinate an international response to the problem, but we can be certain that other countries would expect us, as the former colonial power, to accept the lion's share. It would be far preferable to avoid such an outcome by doing everything in cur power to maintain the prosperity and confidence of Hong Kong during the remaining years of British administration.
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