In what is being hailed as a breakthrough for the rights of ethnic minorities, an Indian girl has been granted Chinese nationality and a Hong Kong SAR passport.
The government denies any change in policy but politicians and sources in the Indian community said there had been an obvious softening of criteria and change in approach to the Chinese nationality law.
Vehka Harjani, 15, who was born in Hong Kong, is the first known case of a person from an ethnic minority with no Chinese relatives being granted an SAR passport.
Her father, Vijay Harjani, said an Immigration Department officer had initially refused to provide him with an application form because his daughter had no ethnic Chinese background.
Mr Harjani claimed racial discrimination, citing the case of Mike Rowse, the head of InvestHK who was naturalised as a Chinese last year. He eventually spoke to a senior officer who accepted the application. Eight months later, in mid-August, Vehka got her passport.
Since 1997, several applications from ethnic minorities have been rejected because of lack of Chinese descent or relatives.
Raj Sital, the Indian Chamber of Commerce chairman, said: 'In my opinion, there has been a slight softening of criteria.'
