DSR 11C
→Modus vivendi concerning sovereignty.
4. An agreement under which the UK and the PRC reached
a modus vivendi shelving their respective claims to the
ceded areas of Hong Kong would not itself require the
sanction of an Act of Parliament but one under which the
UK bound itself to transfer sovereignty over the ceded
areas to the PRC at some future date would require that
sanction.
Novel arrangements
6.
There is no precedent for a situation in which the
UK relinquished its sovereignty over a territory in
favour of another State as part of an agreement with
that State that HMG should continue to have power and
jurisdiction to administer the territory and to conduct
external relations in respect of the territory.
SECRET
/Necessity