May I be allowed to add further comment to my letter regarding residency in Hong Kong after June 30, 1997, which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on April 15.
In October 1995, Rita Fan - then a member of the Preparatory Working Committee (PWC) - made the following statements: She said that after 1997, under the Basic Law, foreign passport holders and also stateless persons who now have right of abode in Hong Kong, would be able to apply for permanent residency.
Successful applicants would not be required to forfeit their foreign passports.
Under the social and security subgroup's proposal for permanent residency, applicants would have to declare that they would take Hong Kong as a place of permanent residence - that includes having an address in Hong Kong, having a spouse and non-adult children usually living in Hong Kong, and being employed with a stable income and paying taxes.
She went on to say applicants would be allowed to stay in the territory while their applications were being processed, and hoped non-Chinese residents would be allowed to make the declaration before July 1, 1997, to make reasonably certain they would be permanent residents post-1997.
Her final comments as reported were whether all this would be feasible, technically and in the sense of law needed to be looked at, and that the Chinese Government did not have strong views on the issue.
