Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I should like strongly to support my noble friend Lord Avebury in his campaign to right a very considerable wrong. I spent a great deal of time in Hong Kong in the 1980s and early 1990s, and I was aware at that time of the very considerable fear felt by those who were likely to lose their nationality and become stateless under the provisions of the 1997 handover. I draw to the attention of the Minister the report of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, in February 2008—his review of citizenship entitled, Citizenship: Our Common Bond. He considered the position of British nationals overseas who have their status by virtue of their connection to Hong Kong and were not affected by the changes in 2002. He said: ""They hold the only extant and significant form of British citizenship which is not full citizenship and does not allow an unqualified right to enter and remain in the UK"." It is a very poor form of nationality granted to these people if they cannot even come to the United Kingdom and stay here. He said: ""The only option which would be characterized as fair would be to offer existing BN(O) holders the right to gain full British citizenship"." So it is recognised by the noble and learned Lord that that is something that should be tackled. The qualification that he put in was that he had been told by somebody that it, ""would be a breach of the commitments made between China and the UK in the 1984 Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong"," and that it would not be possible to vary the terms of that treaty. But when one examines the exchange of memoranda that occurred at that time, one sees that the Chinese memorandum said only: ""Under the Nationality Law of the People’s Republic of China, all Hong Kong Chinese compatriots, whether or not they are holders of British Dependent Territories citizens’ Passports, are Chinese nationals"." So if you are ethnically Chinese, you automatically had Chinese nationality. The memorandum continues: ""Taking account of the historical background of Hong Kong and its realities, the [… Chinese Government] … will, with effect from 1 July 1997 permit Chinese nationals in Hong Kong who were previously called ‘British Dependent Territories citizens’ to use travel documents issued by the Government of the United Kingdom for the purpose of travelling to other States and regions. The above Chinese nationals will not be entitled to British consular protection in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and other parts of the People’s Republic of China on account of their holding the above-mentioned travel documents"." That is all that they said on the topic, and that really has nothing to do with the plight of these people who have been left in limbo or of their children, as my noble friend pointed out. It is time that we did something to right that wrong. The amendment that my noble friend has brought forward this evening can do that and should have the Government’s support. Hong Kong is a very special place. In any event, on a cold March day such as today I cannot imagine that many people living in Hong Kong who come into this category would prefer to come to this country or to attempt to make their living here in today’s economic climate, but at least they should have the right to do so. We have an obligation that must be fulfilled. Far too long a period has passed since 1997 without the injustice that has been done to those people being put right.