Hong Kong

HC Deb 03 March 2004 vol 418 cc995-6W

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UK passport holders live in Hong Kong. [157567]

Mr. Mullin

There are approximately £3.6 million British passport holders living in Hong Kong.

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when a visit by a Minister in his Department to Hong Kong will next take place; and what talks have taken place with China on a ministerial visit to Hong Kong. [157985]

Mr. Mike O'Brien

Foreign engagements for my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and other Ministers are kept under constant review. It is not practice to announce such visits until they are firm. Because of the unpredictable nature of world events, final decisions on overseas visits are often not possible until very shortly before the day of travel and occasionally not until they are under way.

The most recent visit to Hong Kong by a Foreign Office Minister was by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mr.Rammell) in December 2003.

Due to the high degree of autonomy afforded to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, we discuss the timing of ministerial visits to Hong Kong with the SAR Government.