THE British Nationality Scheme would be 'illegal' if the Government refused to supply Beijing with a list of applicants, China's top spokesman in the territory warned yesterday.
Deputy Director of Xinhua (the New China News Agency) Zhang Junsheng accused Governor Chris Patten of taking a stance that would make Hong Kong people who had applied for the scheme guilty of committing a crime.
In an extraordinary response to Mr Patten's refusal to hand over the list of successful applicants, on the grounds that this would be breaking the law, Mr Zhang said: 'What does he mean it's illegal? That means the British Nationality Scheme itself is illegal?' He added: 'There's no secret that they set up this scheme and asked people to apply, but why do they now not dare disclose the list of applicants?' His comments came after a week-long war of words between Beijing and Britain over the handing over of data on nationality and other sensitive issues on top civil servants.