SECRET
TREATIES
3.
Britain acquired the Crown colony of Hong Kong through three
treaties with China concluded during the nineteenth century. Hong
Kong Island was ceded in perpetuity by China under the Treaty of Nanking, signed in 1842 and ratified in 1843; the southern part of
the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island were ceded in
perpetuity under the Convention of Peking in 1860; and the New Territories (comprising 92% of the total surface area of the
territory) were leased
leased to Britain for 99 years from 1 July 1898
under the Convention of Peking of that year
It was the fact that
to
the New Territories are subject to a lease with a fixed expiry date,
and that the remaining 8% of Hong Kong's land area is not viable on
its own, which lay behind the decision by the British Government seek to enter negotiations with the Government of the PRC on
Hong Kong's future.
4.
The attitude of the Government of the PRC towards the treaties
was first set out in
in clear and authoritative form in a "People's
Daily" article on 8 March 1963. This stated the view that the
questions of Hong Kong and Macau "belonged to the category of
unequal treaties left over by history"; that they should be settled peacefully through negotiations when conditions were ripe; and that
pending a settlement the status quo should be maintained.
SECRET