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DRAFT BRIEFING FOR VISIT BY TRADE AND INDUSTRY SELECT COMMITTEE TO
CHINA AND HONG KONG, 25 APRIL TO
ON HONG KONG
10 MAY 1985: POLITICAL BACKGROUND
A.
HONG KONG: CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND
1.
Hong Kong consists of:
(a) Hong Kong Island, ceded by China in perpetuity by the Treaty of
Nanking (1842);
(b) the Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters' Island, similarly ceded
in 1860 by the First Convention of Peking; and
(c) the New Territories, which China leased to Britain for 99 years
in 1898 by the Second Convention of Peking. Its total land area is
1,064 square kilometres and it has a population of over 5.3 million,
of whom 98% are Chinese. The New Territories account for
approximately 92% of Hong Kong's total
total area and more than 50% of its
total population.
2.
Hong Kong is a Dependent Territory and the Secretary of State
for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible to Parliament
for its government. The Territory is administered by a Governor,
with the help of an Executive Council and a Legislative Council.
As Hong Kong is a dependent territory, there is no British Embassy
there. British trade interests are dealt with by the British Trade
Commission, which also coverS trade with Macao. Included within the
Commission is a China Trade Unit which is responsible for trade with
China through Hong Kong, and also, under the supervision of the
British Embassy in Peking, for promoting British trade with the
provinces of southern China.
3. The Governor, who represents the Crown, is the head of
government and has the power
to make laws (called "ordinances") for
the "peace, order and good government" of Hong Kong. His authority
derives from the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions. The
Crown reserves the power
to disallow ordinances enacted in Hong Kong
and to legislate for the Territory by Order in Council.
In
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