TNAG-2714-FCO40-3920-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 114

to is planning

should be introduced. The Government will introduce an Order in

Ib. June, Council in May] prescribing cut-off dates for the acquisition of

BNO status. Any BDTC who does not elect to register will

automatically become a British Overseas Citizen (BOC) from 1 July

1997 if he or she would otherwise be stateless.

British Consulate General in Hong Kong

43. The Government share the Committee's view that British

representation in Hong Kong after 1997 needs to be on a scale

commensurate with Britain's commitment to, and interest in,

Hong Kong. In line with this objective, the Government sought to

secure a suitable site in Hong Kong for the construction of the

future Consulate-General. For the reasons set out in the

Government's initial observations (paragraph 15 of Cm 927) the

Government found no scope for implementing the Committee's

recommendation that HMS Tamar be used as the site. A prestigious

site was however identified in Supreme Court Road (Colvin House).

Following agreement in principle during the Prime Minister's visit to Peking in September 1991, the Sino-British Land Commission in

Hong Kong formally agreed to the granting of the Colvin House site

to the United Kingdom Government at nominal premium for the

construction of the future British Consulate-General. The Foreign

and Commonwealth Office commissioned and briefed six architectural

practices to prepare initial sketch designs. The design by Terry Farrell and Co Ltd was selected in August 1992 as the most suitable high-quality design. The Government plan that construction of the Consulate-General will begin later this year

and that the building will be ready for occupation during the

second half of 1996.

Vietnamese Migrants

44.

Since the Government's observations in 1990 there has been

welcome progress towards a durable and humane solution too this problem. In 1990 the numbers of Vietnamese arriving in Hong Kong

were rising, and the United States and Vietnam had just blocked a

select.cttee.PR.JRB