TNAG-2940-FCO40-4216-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-ethnic-minorities-1993 — Page 94

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EPANCH

852 868 95074 P.08

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

10 March 1993

香港立法局

一九九三年三月十日

125

As the discussion went on I then started to change my mind and felt perhaps I was neither in the Home Office nor in the Department of Archives; I was in the Department of the Environment because what I had met with was a continuous surge of recycling

recycling of the same arguments, the same text, even to the same word, that had been read out to us by officials from the Security Branch in our meeting, all excuses, and may I say some of them flimsy excuses, to get the British Government off the hook and not to take up their moral obligations to grant ethnic minorities in Hong Kong full British citizenship. At the end of our approximately half-hour meeting I had then concluded I was probably in the Department of Public Works because all I could see was a brick wall.

Mr President, I believe the issue of ethnic minorities is different from fighting for British passports for 6 million people, a subject on which we may differ as far as opinions go. I believe the ethnic minorities are faced with a unique dilemma. I notice that it has been mentioned that Mr LU Ping did say to the Indian community that they may apply for Chinese citizenship after 1997. But please take note: this is only after 1997. What about before 1997? And what if, by that time, the rules, the procedures, the success rate of applying for Chinese nationality by non-ethnic Chinese people is not as easy as it seems?

I myself, speaking as an ethnic Chinese, would think it would be a contribution to the Chinese nation if we were to accept outstanding members of the ethnic minority community in Hong Kong to become Chinese citizens and to continue to contribute towards Hong Kong, as they have done for generations, after 1997. But this is an unknown factor. Of course, should they be granted full British nationality now there is nothing to prevent them after 1997 from giving it up and choosing Chinese nationality if they so wish.

Mr President, I believe that we must not give the British Government the impression that they can shirk their responsibilities merely by saying that the ethnic minorities can either wait till after 1997 to apply for British nationality or by saying they may apply under the British Nationality Scheme. That is a totally different scheme altogether and in any case, the number of people we are talking about is very, very small. We are talking but a few thousand heads of households and judging by the results of the British Nationality Scheme even those people who do acquire full British nationality do not have the desire to go to the United Kingdom or reside there but they will want to remain committed to Hong Kong.

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