CONFIDENTIAL
I gather that what lies behind their reluctance to see early cut-off dates is the wish of Hong Kong people to retain British Dependent Territories Citizen (BDTC) passports for as long as possible because they apparently believe BNO passports to be inferior. This being the case (and so far the Hong Kong Government's best efforts have failed to persuade them otherwise) I am told that the LegCo Nationality Committee would accept legally enforceable cut-off dates if they were allowed to retain their BDTC passports until June 1997.
A team of Hong Kong politicians, led by LegCo member Frederick Fung, who called on me and Douglas Hurd on 18 May, have already stirred up some parliamentary interest on this subject; David Steele supported the LegCo position in the Hong Kong media and Allan Rogers is also quoted as having expressed interest. LegCo member Elsie Tu has also written a circular letter to MPs about this. Chris Patten is keen that this does not become an issue in Parliament. I share his view.
At Chris' request, I am writing to those MPS on whom Frederick Fung called, to correct any misapprehensions he may have left them with. We do not wish to create suspicion by appearing over anxious; but it would be as well to quash the idea that we might be overruling LegCo's legitimate concerns or rushing through unnecessary legislation. To this end, I believe it would be helpful in public relations terms to be able to tell LegCo that we do not intend to introduce the Order until after Ministers have had a chance to hear the views of the LegCo delegation. Secondly, I wonder if there is any scope to look again at the question of whether BDTCS might be allowed to hold a BDTC and a BNO passport concurrently, or alternatively whether the BNO passports might be
post-dated, ie to come into effect on, say, 30 June 1997?
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ALASTAIR GOODLAD
CONFIDENTIAL
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