CO1ALD
1.
F CO contact: MI
Telephone 01 233 4381.
UK Aims
RESTRICTED
HONG KONG AND CHINA
William Ehrman, Hong Kong
Department,
2. To ensure that UN and other documents touching on Hong Kong's
status are worded accurately in order not to give the Chinese cause to protest; and to ensure that any dealings with the
Chinese or with a UN Secretariat in that connection are in a low
key.
General Guidelines
3. (a)
If there is reason to believe that the UN Secretariat
concerned is unaware of the sensitivities over Hong Kong's
status, the delegation should endeavour to discuss the matter informally with them before documents are issued.
If it
it is not possible for
for the delegation to
to avoid the
inclusion of unsuitable references to Hong Kong, the
matter should be referred to the FCO immediately;
(b the delegation should check all relevant UN documents for
references to Hong
Hong Kong in case they are inaccurate or likely to cause offence to the Chinese. There should be
no reference (even by implication) to Hong Kong as a "country". This is most likely to occur inadvertently, by Hong Kong featuring in a list of participants the rest of which are countries. The delegation should also seek to
eliminate any individual reference to Hong
Hong Kong as a
"colony" or, if possible, as a "dependent territory"
although there should be по attempt to make a separate reference to Hong Kong in any passage referring generally
to colonies or dependent territories;
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(c) Our preferred description of Hong Kong is as a
"territory". This term should be substitued, if possible,
for any description of Hong Kong as an "area".
If
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