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ultimely become stateless. There are many aspects in regard to our handling of Hong Kong over recent months which have troubled me. I am on record in that regard and shall not repeat them this evening. I am encouraged that matters are now beginning to move more positively. I hope that the momentum, generated following my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary's recent visit to Peking, can be maintained.
On the substance of the Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, while the assurances that I was able to give for the Government in 1986 were honourable, far-reaching and a substantial commit- ment and were right for that moment, they may not necessarily have stood the test of time. The time may well come when the Government will have to give in to the demands legitimately being made by the community in Hong Kong and address more starkly the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, and the noble Baroness, Lady Dunn. I suspect that Her Majesty's Government will gain considerable credit for accepting that fact now rather than being pushed by circumstances into later acceptance, when the force of so doing will not have such a positive effect on confidence for all concerned as it may have now.
I cannot go so far as to support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh of Haringey. What I have heard this evening makes me feel more in tune with the Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter. However, I hope that a Division on either Motion will not take place. I hope also that my noble friend Lord Ferrers will be much more forthcoming when he winds up and can give an indication that the Government are prepared to think again on the matter. My view is that my earlier commitment, given on behalf of the Government, was sufficient for its time. But in the light of current circumstances it does not go far enough nor as far as I should like to see in 1993.
7.15 p.m.
Lord Wilson of Tillyorn: My Lords, I must apologise to the House for not being in my place at the start of the debate. Having been here last night, together with a cast of hundreds, I had to chair a meeting in Scotland in the earlier part of this afternoon. A combination of this debate starting early, the aircraft being late and the traffic being more than usually heavy led me to the discourtesy of not being present at the beginning. I apologise particularly to the Minister and the noble Lord, Lord McIntosh of Haringey, for not being here when they spoke. However, I was particularly pleased to be present for the speech of my noble friend Lady Dunn, who had come a great deal further than the shuttle flight from Edinburgh. She spoke with all the authority and feeling which one would expect, and I have a great deal of sympathy with her views.
The question of nationality is always an emotional one. It affects people's sense of belonging and security. Indeed, it affects several generations in the future because on this issue people think not only of themselves, but also of their children and their
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children's children. One can see people in Hong Kong planning their lives in that sense-for the sake of their children and their grandchildren. That is why these issues must be handled with particular care and sensitivity.
On that score the Government have reacted to the Hong Kong (British Nationality) (Amendment) Order with sensitivity. The Legislative Council sent a delegation to express concern about some of the effects of what was written into the order, reflecting concern felt in Hong Kong that if people had to go through a process of applying now for new passports, and lost their BDTC passports, in some way they may be deprived of some right. It would have been easy for the Government to be bureaucratic on such an issue. It would have been easy for them to brush aside those concerns. It is greatly to their credit that they did neither and instead came up with a pragmatic, sensible, flexible solution by which people, when they obtain their new passports, can also keep their old BDTC passports until 1997.
There is another issue on which similar sensitivity and flexibility is required; that is, the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter of the non-Chinese ethnic minorities. The Joint Declaration and the documents associated with it went to great trouble to deal with the difficult issue of nationality, passports and right of abode. It came up with a pretty good solution. Since then there has been the British nationality package. It may not have allowed for as many UK passports as some, including myself, argued for at the time. But given the political circumstances it was a brave and forward act by Her Majesty's Government. It had the required effect of encouraging people crucial to the economic success of Hong Kong to stay in that territory.
However, one group was left out of those moves, and that is the ethnic minorities. As has already been pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord Bonham-Carter, the numbers are small. We were given a figure of 7,000; I have heard the figure of 5,000 mentioned; the number is diminishing rather than becoming greater. It is a community which came to Hong Kong because Hong Kong was under British administration. Many came to serve the Hong Kong Government or joined the disciplined forces. It is a community which contributed enormously to the success of Hong Kong, economically and in terms of its administration. It is a community which deserves our sympathy.
It could be argued that to do something special for that group would be divisive. The noble Lord, Lord Glenarthur, was implying that at one time that had been the thinking-and indeed it was-and justifiably so. It can no longer be looked at in that light. After all, we had a delegation from the Legislative Council with the unanimous support of that council (the Legislative Council is not noted for being unanimous on many things but on that issue it was unanimous) pressing the British Government to take action. Therefore the argument that it would be divisive to do something special no longer holds good.
It may be argued that those people will be able to obtain BNO passports; that their children will be able to obtain BOC passports after 1997; that their
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