outline working arrangements for the Joint Liaison Group through which the two sides will continue to co-operate up to the year 2000.
Annex III which provides for the protection of existing
land rights and future land grants.
Associated with the agreement is a separate Exchange of Memoranda
dealing with the status after 30 June 1997 of people who are now
British Dependent Territories citizens. This will enable residents of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China to travel
abroad on documents issued by other Governments, including British passports. Hong Kong BDTCs will retain a form of British nationality after 1 July 1997 but will not have the right of abode
in the United Kingdom. This nationality status will not be
transmissible by descent and in general will only be acquired by
those who obtain or are included in a passport before 1 July 1997.
Members will wish to bear in mind the historical background to the
negotiations. 92% of the territory's land area is subject to a
lease which expires on 30 June 1997. Whether or not there is an agreement between the British and Chinese Governments, this 92% will then revert to China. The remaining 8% is not viable on its own.
It is not only in the interests of Hong Kong, and in our interests,
but also in the interests of China that the reversion of Hong Kong
to China should take place under agreed arrangements which safeguard
the prosperity and way of life of Hong Kong.
I t
In my view we have achieved a highly satisfactory agreement.
provides that Hong Kong, as a Special Administrative Region of China, will enjoy a high degree of autonomy and that the socialist policies applied in the mainland will not be applied in Hong Kong. The administration of Hong Kong will be in local hands. It will have an executive accountable to an elected legislature. It will retain its existing legal system, with a court of final appeal in Hong Kong. The people of Hong Kong will continue to enjoy their
present rights and freedoms. It will retain its own convertible
currency. There will be no exchange control. It will be responsible for its own finances and its own external trade. These