TNAG-2943-FCO40-4219-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-ethnic-minorities-1993 — Page 21

-1993 11:39

B4 IND LIVERPOOL

44 051 236 3386 P.07

to be

be given

would apply even if the ethnic minorities

British citizenship, assuming that they remained in Hong Kong,

as they have repeatedly said they wish to do.

come under

If problems do arise and the ethnic minorities pressure to leave Hong Kong and have nowhere else to go we have said many times in the past, and I repeat it again today, that the Government of the day would be expected to consider with considerable and particular sympathy their case for admission to

the United Kingdom. We do of course have no reason to expect

that

under ethnic minorities will any members of the

pressure to leave Hong Kong after 1997.

come

We

My Lords, the Government are perfectly happy to see members of

the ethnic minorities being offered British citizenship if they

meet the criteria set out in the British Nationality (Hong Kong)

Selection Scheme and secure the requisite number of points.

recognise that the ethnic minorities have made a very substantial

contribution to Hong Kong's success and we have no wish to deny

any of them British citizenship if they qualify under the Scheme. It would be wrong to pretend, however, that the Scheme could

accommodate more than a proportion of them.

My Lords, we took the action that we considered necessary for

Hong Kong in 1990, when we passed the British Nationality (Hong

Kong) Act. It was our view at the time that the immigration

assurance

I

repeated

earlier

and

the

Selection

Scheme

arrangements (which provided for British citizenship for 50,000

6