When the Tiananmen crackdown sparked British fears about 5 million Hong Kong refugees
Papers released from the British government’s vaults show worries of a colony fallout over Beijing event, and deliberations about rights of abode
But as history played out, the British government only granted rights of abode to 50,000 families from certain classes including the business elite.
While full deliberations of the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Selection Scheme, which took effect in 1990, are yet to come to light, the public can now catch a glimpse of the discussions in the latest batch of declassified cabinet files from the National Archives in London.
The files dated June and July 1989 – right after the military crackdown on the democratic movement in Beijing – reveal the heightened attention the British government gave to the campaign in Hong Kong for the rights of abode of some 3.25 million holders of British Dependent Territories Citizens (BDTC) passports.
A file dated June 15, 11 days after the crackdown, saw then foreign and commonwealth secretary Geoffrey Howe telling other cabinet members in the weekly meeting that the incident had “severely shaken the confidence of Hong Kong”.