A DRAFT AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
{
ON THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG
INTRODUCTION
1. On 26 September 1984 representatives of the Governments of the United Kingdom and of the People's Republic of China initialled the draft text of an agreement on the future of Hong Kong. The agreement, contained in the second part of this White Paper, consists of a Joint Declaration and three Annexes. There is an associated Exchange of Memoranda. These documents are the outcome of two years of negotiations between the two Governments, undertaken with the common aim of maintaining the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong.
2. The purpose of this White Paper is to explain the background to the last two years' negotiations and their course, and to present the documents in their proper context. The text of this White Paper is also being published in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Government, and the people of Hong Kong are being invited to comment on the overall acceptability of the arrangements which it describes. Thereafter the matter will be debated in
Parliament.
History
3. During the nineteenth century Britain concluded three Treaties with the then Chinese Government relating to Hong Kong: the Treaty of Nanking1, signed in 1842 and ratified in 1843 under which Hong Kong Island was ceded in perpetuity; the Convention of Peking" in 1860 under which the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island were ceded in perpetuity; and the Convention of 1898 under which the New Territories (comprising 92 per cent of the total land area of the territory) were leased to Britain for 99 years from 1 July 1898. It was the fact that the New Territories are subject to a lease with a fixed expiry date which lay behind the decision by Her Majesty's Government to seek to enter negotiations with the Government of the People's Republic of China (referred to hereafter as The Chinese Government ") on Hong Kong's future.
4. The Chinese Government has consistently taken the view that the whole of Hong Kong is Chinese territory. Its position for many years was that the question of Hong Kong came into the category of unequal treaties left over from history; that it should be settled peacefully through negotiations when conditions were ripe; and that pending a settlement the status quo should be maintained. The Chinese Government made its view of Hong Kong's status clear in a letter to the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the
1 British State Papers Vol. 30 p. 389.
2 British State Papers Vol. 50 p. 10.
3 British State Papers Vol. 90 p. 17.
3
Page 180Page 181