Sino-British Land Commission, whose terms of reference are specified
in Annex III to the Joint Declaration, which deals with land leases.
The Commission has agreed that leases in the New Territories
referred to in that Annex should be extended to 2047. The New
Territories Leases (Extension) Ordinance gives effect to this
agreement.
The Commission is also charged with deciding whether the
annual limit of 50 hectares on land disposal specified in the Joint
Declaration should be exceeded. In practice the Commission has
exercised considerable flexibility and has agreed each year so far that the limit should be exceeded. The programme agreed for 1988/89 covered some 150 hectares. This includes substantial land grants
for the seventh container terminal and for the third university.
25.
Under the terms of the Joint Declaration, premium income from
land transactions, after deduction of the average cost of land reclamation, clearance and other related costs, is shared equally between the Hong Kong Government and the future SAR Government. (The Chinese side of the Land Commission manage their share of the income in trust, through a Hong Kong SAR Government Land Fund and an Investment Committee.) Almost HK$10 billion has so far been credited
to the account of the future SAR Government.
26.
Ministers have taken a close interest in the implementation of the Joint Declaration. The work of the JLG and other aspects of implementation have featured regularly in the Foreign Secretary's talks with his Chinese counterpart on nine occasions since 1985 and in other exchanges at Ministerial level.
―
27. A key aspect of the implementation of the Joint Declaration is the drafting of the Basic Law. That is dealt with in Section XI of
this memorandum.
VIII:
28.
Development of representative government in Hong Kong
The system of government in Hong Kong has evolved in a way which has reflected the particular circumstances of the territory. In other British dependent territories our policy has been to promote the development of democracy as part of the preparations for eventual independence. There has however never been any question of