Entrustments
Annex
1. At Appendices I and II are forms of entrustment to
the Governments of Bermuda and Antigua of a limited
competence to conduct external relations. Both emphasize
the continued responsibility of the United Kingdom
Government for the conduct of the colony's external affairs
and describe the conferment of authority as a delegation of
authority to conduct external relations on behalf of the UK.
2.
Although the United Kingdom will, as a matter of
international law, retain until 1997 its responsibility for
Hong Kong's external affairs (including any for which an
entrustment is given), to emphasize that and the fact that
Hong Kong is acting on behalf of the UK Government in an
entrustment could well be seen as detracting from any
assertion which we might wish to make as to Hong Kong's
autonomy, even though a state with which Hong Kong proposed
to enter an agreement might wish to be assured formally of
the existence of an entrustment. It would therefore be
proposed to omit those elements from the entrustment to be
issued to Hong Kong. Prudence would however dictate that the
entrustment was the subject of a further despatch making the
point that the United Kingdom retains responsibility and
reserves the power to vary or invoke the entrustment.
entrustment itself would then constitute the Governor's
credentials and powers in particular fields and could be
shown to states which proposed to enter into an agreement
with Hong Kong. The second despatch would not be published,
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