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TO ROUTINE VIENNA
OF 221423Z OCTOBER 93
INFO ROUTINE HONG KONG...
2 5 OCT 1993
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110
YOUR TELNO 272: BNOS VISITING AUSTRIA
1.
Grateful if you would now return to the Austrians and ask them if they would be prepared to negotiate a further amendment to the 1968 Exchange of Notes as proposed in FCO telno 758 to Hong Kong.
2. You will wish to make the following points-
a) BN (0) passports entitle their holders to the legal right of abode in Hong Kong and the holders' returnability to Hong Kong is guaranteed both before 1997 and by the Chinese government thereafter. (See para 3 below)
b) Hong Kong BDTCs and BN (0)s have equal rights
c)
d)
e)
BN (0)s currently visit the UK and many other countries without being required to have visas Visa free access to third countries is important to Hong Kong residents and has an impact on the territory's present and future prosperity
Hong Kong travellers have a record of good behaviour and of paying their way. There is no history of illegal immigration by Hong Kongers to Europe.
3.
We have discussed the possibility of riding on the back of the Benelux arrangements with the Home Office. Their response is that it would be unwise to attempt to extend the arrangements which are now almost an anachronism. The arrangement came about in the early 1960s as a result of the wording in the visa abolition agreements made with the Benelux countries which obliged the United Kingdom not to return to the Benelux countries certain classes of person deported or expelled to the United Kingdom. The possibility of extending the arrangement to Germany was considered in 1988 and the view taken then was that it was
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