ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To Dr D. R. Phillips of the Geography Department of Exeter University thanks are due for the assistance he gave by providing source material from Hong Kong, by reading the draft of the paper at various stages and by making comments and suggestions.
The author's sincere thanks are no less due to Joyce Savidge, formerly Publications Editor, Hong Kong government, for help given throughout the preparation of the paper and for many valuable editorial suggestions.
Neither Dr Phillips nor Mrs Savidge is responsible for the views expressed and conclusions reached, which are of course the author's.
The Prospects for Hong Kong
ESSENTIAL DATA
Hong Kong, situated in the Pearl River estuary on the south coast of China about 90 miles south-east of Canton, has a total land area of 410 square miles. The territory consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland and the adjoining New Territories together with more than 230 islands. At the end of 1981 the population was estimated to be 5·2 million—almost 98 per cent being Chinese.
The treaties under which Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula were respectively ceded to Britain in perpetuity were the Treaty of Nanking (1842) and the Convention of Peking (1860). The New Territories were leased for a period of 99 years dating from 1 July 1898. Neither the treaties nor the lease are recognised by the People's Republic of China.
Hong Kong is administered as a Crown Colony by a Governor, an Executive Council and a Legislative Council. Both councils, which consist of a mixture of official and unofficial (but appointed) members, are presided over by the Governor. English common law, as modified by Hong Kong ordinances, is in force. The administration has virtual autonomy in internal affairs, but foreign relations are the responsibility of the British government.
Hong Kong's basic unit of currency is the Hong Kong dollar-in October 1982 exchangeable for English pounds at the rate £1 HK$11. The value of goods imported, exported and re-exported in 1981 was HK$260,537 million.
Published by
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CONFLICT
12/12A GOLDEN SQUARE, LONDON WIR 3AF, ENGLAND Telephone 01-439 7381-7
Cable Address INSTUCON LONDON W.1. Telex No: 8954 734 GOLDEN G.
© 1982 Institute for the Study of Conflict. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or taping or information storage or retrieval systems.
:}
A PLACE OF TRADE
Many people whose lives and livelihoods are linked with the fortunes of Hong Kong may take exception to the notion of this territory being the subject of a "conflict study”. This must not be taken as implying that Hong Kong can be characterised as a place of strife. If any label can be pinned to Hong Kong, the appropriate one surely, and one that has already been applied, is "a place of trade": a term with connotations of agreement and mutual advantage rather than contention and enmity.
It is from this starting-point that Hong Kong's situation and its prospects
1