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THE Chinese authorities should consider issuing an executive order or amending the Basic Law to allow Hong Kong residents who have emigrated to keep their permanent resident status after 1997, the Liberal Party's Edward Chow Kwong-fai said yesterday.

Mr Chow's call came after a survey of accountants showed that many believed Hong Kong migrants should not lose permanent residency even if they could not return to the territory before the change of sovereignty in 1997.

Mr Chow, who is competing in the Legislative Council election with independents Eric Li Ka-chueng and Peter Chan Po-fun for the seat representing the accounting profession, said he sent out more than 3,700 questionnaires to all registered voters in the functional constituency in mid-August. He had received 163 valid responses.

According to the survey, 78 per cent of respondents disagreed that residents who emigrated had to live in Hong Kong for seven years to re-obtain permanent residency if they failed to return to the territory before the changeover.

The survey followed a Preliminary Working Committee proposal that July 1, 1997, should be the cut-off date for overseas migrants wishing to resume permanent residency.

Mr Chow said he understood that there could be technical difficulties in interpreting the Basic Law.

He suggested that some of the difficulties could be ironed out if the Basic Law was amended or an executive order was issued.

'Very often we amend the laws in Hong Kong,' he said. 'What's wrong with amending the Basic Law?' Mr Chow said the Chinese authorities should clarify as soon as possible how they planned to handle the residency status of migrants who returned to Hong Kong before and after the changeover.

'Hong Kong people so far only have bits and pieces of information and the information is open to different interpretations,' he said.

'The Chinese authorities should clarify the misunderstandings to avoid causing public anxiety.' Mr Chow said many people in the accounting profession were concerned about the issue as they had the right of abode in other countries.



Call to secure migrant status