CONFIDENTIAL
- 5 -
8. FED, Research Department and the Departmental legal
adviser concur.
8 December 1976
дав. f.B.B. Staat:
JA B Stewart
Hong Kong Department K246 233 3184
Copies:
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
Mr Samuel FED
Mr Rushford Legal Advisers
Miss Bishop
Research Department
(and the
Chinese
judge this to be in
their interest
too)
2.
This is a valuable piece of research.
The short point is that de facto we exercise all the attributes of sovereignty both over the ceded and the leased territories of Hong Kong. There is a reasonable prospect that we shall be able to continue to do so, if we judge it in the interest of the peoples of Hong Kong and of this country, at least up to the point in time when the difficult questions relating to the New Territories come up for resolution. But were we publicly to assert sovereignty in terms over the ceded territory, let alone the leased territories, we should run a substantial risk of provoking China to challenge our statement, if not to go further and take steps (which we could not prevent) to gain physical control of the colony.
3.
I attach for ease of reference the public definition of the Chinese attitude to Hong Kong which was made by the Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations in his letter to the Chairman of the Committee of 24 dated 8 March 1972. This is the communication to which Mr Hooley referred in his PQ. It is very carefully drafted.
At present it is mutually advantageous to remain pragmatically silent.
4.
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