CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG TERMINOLOGY AT THE UNITED NATIONS
1.
The sequence of the various Chinese pronouncements recorded in
FCO files is as follows:
(i)
May 1973: At the Drafting Meeting of an ECAFE* session in Tokyo the Chinese proposed amendments
proposed amendments to passages which could imply
that Hong Kong was a "country". They asked for "countries of the
region" to be replaced by "countries and regions".
(ii)
September 1973: The Chinese objected informally to a UNDP document which designated Hong Kong as "Government of Hong Kong" and
indicated that the use of this term in future would lead to an
official complaint. They suggested listing Hong Kong under the
category "country or region" instead of "government". After a
similar problem had arisen in connection with the listing of Hong Kong in the estimated world requirements of narcotic drugs, we
suggested that the matter might be resolved by using the expression
"country, territory or region." However the Chinese indicated that
they found this unacceptable and repeated that they wanted "country
or region.'
(iii) October 1973: At an ITU Conference the discovery that
Britain had listed overseas territories by name in its ratification
of the 1965 Montreux Convention moved the Chinese to make a
statement reiterating China's position on Hong Kong.
(iv)
January 1974: The Chinese member of the WHO executive Board
objected to the listing of Hong Kong as
11
a
country".
(v)
1974: At the ECAFE* Conference in Colombo the Chinese
delegate took the initiative in opposing the insertion of Hong Kong
in a list of countries and suggested instead the term should be
"countries or territories".
(vi)
February 1976: The Chinese objected to Hong Kong's becoming
a full member of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, but acquiesced in
its having associated membership without voting rights. The Chinese
objection was presumably because membership of that body was limited
CONFIDENTIAL
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