TNAG-2943-FCO40-4219-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-ethnic-minorities-1993 — Page 76

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CONFIDENTIAL

2.

The recent Han Dongfang case has revived

public concern about where BN(0)s will be able to turn Lf refused entry into Hong Kong by the future SAR

Government. It has encouraged Emily Lau to pursue the matter of the 1985 assurance and you will have seen her letter to the Home Secretary. I do not think this issue will go away. The Han Dongfang case is unlikely to be resolved satisfactorily in the near future and there is likely to be increasing support for Emily

Lau's cause.

3.

Geoffrey Howe's 1989 assurance will, I think, not be sufficient, since it refers only to extreme circumstances where Hong Kong people will become

refugees en masse and makes no reference to HMG's obligation to British passport holders in general. Emily Lau will continue to say that the Home Secretary confirmed to her on 9 June that the Government of the day will consider sympathetically the case of any BN (0) or BOC after 1997 should they be forced to leave Hong Kong. I believe that HMG does have this obligation, and that it should seek to extract the maximum

advantage by re-stating it in the Home Secretary's

CONFIDENTIAL

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