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(i) by a clause in the Act which would
itself terminate UK sovereignty over the
ceded territories as from 1 July 1997;
or
(ii) by an enabling clause giving power to
make an Order in Council bringing into
effect the termination of sovereignty
from 1 July 1997.
DSR 11C
My first wishlist, as explored at O.D (1), → to favour uption (11).
The choice between options (i) and (ii) is essentially
a matter of parliamentary tactics, on which I should
further greatly value your advice. on reflection and following
further-discussion with our Legal Advisers we have come
to favour option (i), for the reasons set out below.
犭
and if ratification
is to precede the
making of the
Order in Connil, the latter
Option (ii) would leave a trigger mechanism in our
hands in the form of the Order in Council to bring into
effect the termination of sovereignty which would not be
made until nearer to 1997. This would however be of
little practical use as a deterrent to the Chinese: our
rights on the leased territories disappear in 1997
anyway, and the remaining territory is not viable on its
own. It can be argued that option (ii) would have some
presentational advantages, since the transfer of
sovereignty is so far in the future. But there is one
Attorney General has important consideration: the Law Officers have advised us
to the effect
that, in order to make it possible to ratify the
agreement, an Order in Council, if option (ii) is
followed, must not be subject to either affirmative or
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