TNAG-2383-FCO40-3465-Hong-Kong-nationality-ethnic-minorities-in-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 5

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(ii)

(iii)

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that Hong Kong Indians will enjoy a right of abode in Hong Kong and documents allowing them to travel abroad and cannot therefore be considered stateless.)

an affirmation that the GOI have consistently held that responsibility for BDTCs/BNOs of Indian origin lies with the British Government

GOI representations to HMG on this issue are active and continuing

the issue of dual citizenship for Indians abroad is a separate question, which remains under consideration by the GOI

I asked the China desk officer in the MEA on 30 July how matters stood following this exchange. Bambawale con- firmed what Mehotra told Andrew Burns in March, that the question of allowing Indian nationals to hold dual nationality was under consideration by the GOI in the general context of the position of all people of Indian origin living abroad. He added that the issue was clearly relevant to Hong Kong Indians, but was not confined to them and their position would be only one (and by implication pretty minor) factor taken into account by the GOI; he did not expect decisions to be reached soon. Bambawale said nothing to indicate that the parliamentary exchange would result in further representations to us about Hong Kong Indians, but for obvious reasons I did not ask him directly about this and it cannot be ruled out.

COMMENT

5.

Looking through the files I am pleasantly struck by how far this issue has dropped off the bilateral agenda since I last dealt with India in 1988. The relative silence of the last three years may not however hold as 1997 begins to loom. The BJP, whose position increased from 85 to 117 seats in the general elections last month, included manifesto commitments to "give dual citizenship to Indian citizens abroad" and to "stand by persons of Indian origin abroad in defence of their legitimate rights". The decision by Advani (Leader of the Opposition) and Vajpayee (a BJP Executive Committee member) to raise the position of Hong Kong Indians in this context at one of the first Foreign Affairs question times in the new Lok Sabha may herald this group's return to the domestic political agenda; and in the absence of a comprehensive dual nationality policy the GOI may feel obliged once again to emphasise publicly criticism of how we discharge our responsibilities for them.

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