Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Jul 14, 2025

Ex-governor pushed Britain to oppose citizenship rules for advisers, judges, papers show

Ex-governor pushed Britain to oppose citizenship rules for advisers, judges, papers show

In a newly declassified telegram to Britain’s Foreign Office, then governor David Wilson argued his proposals were ‘important to restoring local confidence in the future of Hong Kong’ after the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The British government in 1989 dismissed calls from then Hong Kong governor David Wilson to push back against a proposed constitutional requirement that high-ranking judges and top government advisers be Chinese citizens after the city’s handover.

Wilson had also urged London at the time to press Beijing to make a statement declaring it would not exercise its right to station a peacetime People’s Liberation Army (PLA) garrison in Hong Kong, after acknowledging there was “no real prospect” of language to that effect being included in the Basic Law.

Wilson’s argued that his suggestions – revealed for the first time in a set of documents declassified nearly 30 years early following a freedom of information request by the Post – were “important to restoring local confidence in the future of Hong Kong” in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as the city’s 1997 handover to China loomed.

The proposals – neither of which came to pass – came at a time when the British government was seeking to influence the final language of the Basic Law, which was drafted between 1985 and 1990 by a joint committee comprising Hong Kong and mainland Chinese members. The mini-constitution would ultimately be endorsed by China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, in April 1990.

In a telegram sent to Britain’s Foreign Office on July 13, 1989 with the subject line “Basic Law: Way Forward”, Wilson urged the government to push for the removal of the Chinese nationality requirement for Executive Council members and chief judges of the Court of Final Appeal and High Court, noting the rule was not stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration.


But Alan Paul, head of the office’s Hong Kong Department at the time, disagreed, brushing aside Wilson’s concerns in an August 18 memo to then Minister of State Francis Maude.

Noting that the Hong Kong government had raised the potential difficulty of meeting the requirements as the pool of people capable of filling the posts would be too small, Paul wrote: “In the case of Exco, we do not accept that it would be so. In the case of judges, there should not be practical difficulties.”

If Hong Kong insisted on raising the point, he continued, “it should be made by Hong Kong people”, and not Britain.

“If HMG [the British government] made the point, the Chinese would be quite likely to perceive it as an attempt to preserve British influence,” he added. “Hong Kong [officials] have now accepted this view.”

The British government ultimately declined to raise Wilson’s suggestion with Beijing.


Articles 55 and 90 of the Basic Law state that members of Exco, the city’s chief justice and the chief judge of the High Court “shall be Chinese citizens who are permanent residents of [Hong Kong] with no right of abode in any foreign country”.

The city’s courts do allow for some foreign judges to serve in certain capacities, but the future of that system has been questioned by some observers after Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, declared in February that the city government – including its judicial branch – must be led by “true patriots”.

The remarks from Beijing’s top official overseeing Hong Kong affairs, which foreshadowed a major overhaul of the city’s electoral system aimed at ensuring leaders’ loyalty, have led some to wonder whether nationality requirements for judges in the city may be expanded in the future.

In his July 13, 1989 telegram, Wilson also urged the government to make a case to Beijing that the Basic Law should state that PLA troops would not be stationed in Hong Kong except in times of war or at the request of local authorities following the handover.

If that proved unworkable, he suggested that the central government instead “make a separately self-denying statement to the effect that they would not exercise their right to send troops except in these circumstances”.

Wilson acknowledged the long odds facing the constitutional provision in another telegram to the foreign office two days later, saying: “I see no real prospect of the Chinese writing it into the Basic Law that no PLA will be stationed in Hong Kong.”

He added: “What we should aim for is a self-denying statement that, although they have the sovereign right to station troops, they see no immediate need to do so.”

Paul also deemed keeping the PLA out of the city after 1997 to be an unattainable objective, but committed to raising it anyway.

Richard Evans (left), the British Ambassador to China, and Zhou Nan, head of the Chinese negotiating team, exchange documents after signing the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.


“Insistence on this point may lead to an unproductive row (which we can never win),” he wrote in the August communique to Maude. “Nevertheless we must try. The public expectation in Hong Kong and in this country is that we will do so.”

While Britain’s efforts to push for similar concessions were previously reported, Wilson’s calls for the so-called self-denying statement were not.

The British raised the issue with the Chinese side at a meeting of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group in London in September 1989 where transitional arrangements for Hong Kong’s handover were discussed.

The Post reported at the time that Beijing rejected the suggestion, and the PLA now maintains a permanent garrison in the city. Article 14 of the Basic Law states the local government “may, when necessary, ask the Central People’s Government for help from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
×