TNAG-2936-FCO40-4211-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-British-National-(Overseas)-1993 — Page 131

His Barnes Jones

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Mrr Gog 1) Please telephone Mr Kelly and ask him it he is yet in a position to respond to my minute of 26 August

the next few worthing days, (underneath) if not, when?

Mrs Barnes Jones (HKD, WH312)

JROR with pile 4,1

MUD 340/1

DBJ.

RFC

3 OSEP 1993

251

HONG KONG: BOC'S AND BN(0)s:

OFFI

LETTER FROM DR VICKERS.

1. Please refer to your minute of 26 August to Mr Hayward attaching a letter from Dr Vickers. I am sorry that we have not responded earlier. We agreed that Hong Kong Department would reply to Dr Vickers' letter including in your reply any points made by this Department.

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2. As we see it, it is in the interests of the ethnic minorities to register as BN (O)s rather than to wait until they become BOCs on 1 July 1997 under the provisions in Article 6 (1) of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986. This is because the Consulate-General will inevitably need to establish that an applicant from the ethnic minority who applies for a passport as a BOC under this Article is in fact stateless. do this, the Consulate-General would need to eliminate the possibility of the applicant having any other nationality. establish that the person concerned was not recognised as a Chinese by the Chinese authorities, it would be necessary to have a statement to that effect from them. Such a statement might be difficult to obtain at the time and, in the case of some applicants from the ethnic minority, particularly those who are partly Chinese, it might be that the Chinese will recognise them as Chinese. If this were the case, such people having not registered as BN (O)s, would have no claim to any British status or nationality. We have already established that BN (O)s and BOCS are on a par in being able to transmit their British status or nationality to their children or grandchildren as provided for in Article 6 (2) and (3). It follows from all this that people who are from the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong would be better off applying for BN(0) status rather than waiting to become BOCs on 1 July 1997. It should also be pointed out to Dr Vickers that such persons cannot make a claim to BOC status before that date since there is no basis in the legislation for their doing so.

3.

You made the point that the only advantage you could see in their waiting and establishing their claim to BOC status was that if the situation in Hong Kong became untenable for them, it would be easier for them to show that they had no other nationality or citizenship since this was the basis for their having BOC status and that they would be in a better position to benefit from the undertaking given to them by the Home Secretary.

4. As to Chinese definitions of nationality/citizenship, it would be useful if we could obtain some inkling of Chinese thinking on this in advance of 1 July 1997 through the Joint Liaison Group.

CODE 18-77

NJM120J

/5.

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