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The
Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, consisting of five officials
on each side (with two Hong Kong officials as part of the
British team), calling on expert advice where necessary.
group has achieved a great deal since it started its work
years ago. It has agreed that Hong Kong should become a
separate contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade (GATT) and that it should remain so after 1997. Hong
Kong duly became a party in its own right in April 1986,
thereby ending uncertainty over Hong Kong's future trading
position when the British umbrella is removed (China not
currently being a member of the GATT). It has agreed on travel
and identity documents for Hong Kong people to use up to and
after 1997. It has paved the way for Hong Kong to conclude its
own air service agreements the first, with the Netherlands,
has already been signed
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and to set up its own shipping
register. Thus, in areas of vital concern to Hong Kong
trade, travel and communications the Joint Declaration is
already being implemented. In other areas too, notably how to
maintain Hong Kong's status in the myriad international
agreements and organizations in which it participates, the
Joint Liaison Group is making good progress.
Secondly, both the British and Chinese governments are
publicly and firmly committed to making a success of the Joint
Declaration a legally binding international agreement,
registered with the United Nations, to which both have devoted
and continue to devote a great deal of time and effort, right
up to the highest levels of government.