TNAG-2628-FCO40-3819-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-British-National-(Overseas)-1992 — Page 98

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11 February 1992

The Lord Geddes House of Lords

LONDON

SW1A OPW

HKD 340/1

18 FEB 1992

ZB

Foreign & Commonwealth

Office

London SWIA 2AH

From The Minister of State

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Morris Ri

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I undertook to write to you about the points you raised during Lord Wyatt's UQ on 29 January concerning the Chinese attitude to British National (Overseas) (BN (0) s) and why the Basic Law made no reference to either BDTCs or BN (0)s and their passports (official report columns 1398 and 1410).

First if I may clarify one point in your question; it is not so much a matter of whether holders of the BN (0) passports will be "similarly" recognised by the People's Republic but, rather, that JD 234 implicitly refers to holders of BN (0) passports. As you know, BN (0) status was created by the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986. When the Joint Declaration was signed in 1984 that status was as yet unnamed, and hence the United Kingdom Memorandum (JD 226) simply referred to "an appropriate status" to replace BDTC status and enable former BDTCs to continue to use British passports. It is this unnamed status which later became British National (Overseas) to which the Chinese Memorandum is referring when it provides in JD 234 that 'The People's Republic of China will, with effect from 1 July 1997, permit Chinese Nationals in Hong Kong who were previously called "British Dependant Territories Citizens" to use travel documents issued by the Government of the United Kingdom.

As to why the Basic Law made no reference to either BDTCs or BN (O)s and their passports, that is because of the different characters of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. The Joint Declaration is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China setting out the agreement of the two states concerning the resumption of the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong by the People's Republic of China with effect from 1 July 1997. Annex 1, Part 1 provides for the enactment and promulgation of a Basic Law of the HKSAR by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. The preamble to the Basic Law notes that the basic

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