British nationality law and Hong Kong the wording of "British Dependent Territories" with "British Overseas Territories" in "British Nationality Act, 1981" among other new provisions, further clarification was made even though this act did not even apply to Hong Kong. Section 14 of the subsequent "Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, 2002", stated specifically that a person may not be registered as a British Overseas Territories Citizen (BOTC) by virtue of a connection with Hong Kong. A small group of Hong Kong ethnic minorities had not been eligible for acquiring British citizenship under the "British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act, 1997" because they were not ordinarily resident in
Handover of Hong Kong territories were secured and conditions were ripe for its gradual abrogation. A few months after Thatcher's visit to Beijing, the PRC government had yet to open negotiations with the British government regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Shortly before the initiation of sovereignty talks, Governor Youde declared his intention to represent the population of Hong Kong at the negotiations. This statement sparked a strong response from the PRC, prompting Deng Xiaoping to denounce talk of "the so-called 'three-legged stool'", which implied that Hong Kong was a party to talks on its future, alongside Beijing and London. At the preliminary stage