CHINA AND HONG KONG
CONFIDENTIAL
Hong Kong's Nomenclature in UN Documents
1. The Chinese object to references in UN and other documents, which they regard as implying that Hong Kong is an independent country. They have in the past (but not recently) also objected
In order to to references to the 'Government of Hong Kong'. forestall Chinese objections of this kind, the UK delegation should check all relevant documents for references to Hong Kong likely to
Where it is necessary to refer to cause offence to the Chinese.
This term was
Hong Kong it should be described as a 'territory'. suggested by the Chinese themselves and is entirely acceptable to the UK Government. It is preferable to the term 'region', which could be taken as implying that Hong Kong is a region of China At the UPU meeting in May, and should be avoided if possible. the Chinese delegation circulated an unusually formal restatement of the Chinese position on Hong Kong, as a reaction to its classification in certain documents as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. UK delegation accordingly circulated a lowkey reply (see below). It is too early to say whether the Chinese action in the UPU signifies a policy decision to take a generally harder line on Hong Kong's classification.
The
2.
If there is reason to believe that the UN Secretariat concerned is unaware of the difficulty over Hong Kong, the delegation should endeavour to discuss the matter informally with them before documents are issued. If it is not possible for the delegation to avoid the inclusion of unsuitable references to Hong Kong, the matter should be referred to the FCO immediately.
The Status of Hong Kong
3.
The Chinese have publicly stated that they regard Hong Kong
But as Chinese territory occupied by the British Authorities.
it is clear that, for the time being, they are prepared to accept the status quo and are therefore unlikely to question Hong Kong's
If the status or HMG's sovereignty in respect of Hong Kong. Chinese were, however, to make a simple protest for the record, the
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/UK