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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
10 March 1993
香港工法局
一九九三年三月十日
121
MISS EMILY LAU: Mr President, I move the motion standing in my name on the Order Paper. The motion reflects Members' support for the non-Chinese ethnic minorities' request for full British nationality and urges .. the Government to declare its support, both publicly and in representations to the British Government. For the record, I am tabling the report of the House Committee on the nationality of non-Chinese ethnic minorities which sets out their case.
On 19 February the House Committee endorsed a report by the Subcommittee on Nationality which I chair. The report highlights the plight of the ethnic minorities, who, through no fault of their own, are trapped in the transition of the colony from British to Chinese rule. Unlike the ethnic Chinese Hong Kong residents, who will all become Chinese nationals in 1997 whether they like it or not, there is no certainty to the ethnic minorities' nationality. Thus their situation is highly vulnerable.
According to the Government's best estimate, there are about 7 000 ethnic minorities, coming from about 2 000 families, who are Hong Kong British citizens with no other foreign nationality. After 1997, they will have some nominal British status, which gives them neither the right to live nor to work in Britain.
Such British status can only be transmitted for two generations. If they cannot acquire another nationality, their third generation would effectively become stateless.
Mr President, during the House Committee deliberations, two Members voted against supporting the ethnic minorities' request for full British nationality. Subsequently I spoke to them and found out the two Members were unhappy because they thought we were only fighting for several thousand ethnic minorities. They said we should be fighting for all the Hong Kong people, be they holders of Hong Kong British passports or mere Certificates of Identity.
Mr President, I could not have agreed with them more. I firmly believe Britain has an unshirkable moral obligation towards all the long Kong British subjects. If Members agree, I am most willing to take up this cause. But given that Britain is determined to turn its back on the Hong Kong subjects, we must recognize that it is an uphill battle.
Mr President, the question of British citizenship for the ethnic minorities has been debated in this Council on several occasions in the past few years. In an emotionally charged sitting on 8 January 1986, Official
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