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(d) Unilateral Action by HMG to Extend Powers of
Administration Over New Territories Beyond 1997
(e)
Although the existing Order in Council of 1898
providing for the government of the leased territories explicitly mentions the (99 year) time limit in the Convention of Peking of 1898, it would in municipal law be open to the UK to legislate for such powers to continue, eg by a further Order in Council. However, in inter-
national law HMG's position would be tenable
only for so long as the PRC acquiesced. Once
they objected, continued occupation of the New Territories by the UK would clearly be contrary to international law. PRC acquiescence would also be essential politically. Indeed they would need to make their agreement public if confidence
was to be preserved. They turned down a similar suggestion proposed by HMG in 1979 as unnecessary
and inappropriate'. We believe that their attitude
would be the same now.
Returning the New Territories to China in 1997 and Continuing to Govern the Ceded Territory (ie Hong Kong and Stonecutters Islands and Kowloon south of Boundary Street)
The New Territories encompass some 92% of the land area of the colony and more than half the popu-
lation; they include the airport, the container
port, all major reservoirs, the new towns, most of industry and most of the generating capacity. Since the economic life of Hong Kong depends upon free movement between the island of Hong Kong and
the rest of the territory and free access to its commercial and economic resources, the ceded areas would be unviable as a separate UK dependency. In practical terms the existing colony is
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/indivisible