THE powerful Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee is considering a visit to Hongkong later this year to monitor relations with China - its first trip to the territory since its 1989 emergency report following the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Chairman Mr David Howell, who only returned from the former Yugoslavia at the end of last week, refused to be drawn yesterday on the continuing row surrounding Governor Mr Chris Patten's blueprint but stressed that the committee ''keeps a constant interest in Hongkong''.
''We are concerned all the time for the welfare of the territory,'' he said. ''We are considering whether to visit Hongkong during 1993 but no final decision has been taken.'' The all-party committee is following up with the Foreign Office what progress it has made on recommendations in the 1989 report.
The report, rushed through in the wake of the crackdown, recommended strict limits on the number of Hongkong people to be granted full UK passports but urged the British Government to try to resolve the apparent impending statelessness of Hongkong's Indian population.
Mr Howell stressed he was especially concerned to see what progress was being made regarding Indians, who were in a ''particularly difficult position''.
The Legislative Council roundly condemned aspects of the report at the time in 1989, focusing on the committee's rejection of the principle of restoring the right of abode to the estimated 3.25 million Hongkong people who are registered as British.