JOINT LIAISON GROUP
4.
The main forum for implementation of the Joint Declaration is the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (JLG).
Its terms of reference are set out in Annex II to the Joint
Declaration. The JLG meets three times a year in plenary session rotating between London, Peking and Hong Kong, and there are frequent informal contacts between the British and Chinese JLG Offices in Hong Kong at other times. The main function of the JLG is to agree on the necessary concrete and practical steps required to implement the Joint Declaration and to ensure a smooth transfer of sovereignty in 1997. Much of its work is technical in nature (eg securing the continuation beyond 1997 of Hong Kong's rights and obligations under international treaties).
5. Since 1988, both the British and the Chinese
representatives on the JLG have set up permanent offices in
Hong Kong. The thirteenth plenary meeting of the Joint Liaison Group which was to have taken place in London on
18-21 July, was postponed as one of the measures announced by Sir Geoffrey Howe following the Tiananmen Square massacre. It took place, following a proposal by the British side, on 27-29 September in London. Subsequent meetings of the JLG took place in Hong Kong from 5-8 December and in Peking from 24-27 April. On both occasions,
the Group had a frank and in-depth exchange of views on a number of issues relating to the situation in Hong Kong. Subjects currently on the agenda include the localisation of
laws, international rights and obligations, the establishment of a Court of Final Appeal and future arrangements for the surrender of fugitive offenders between
Hong Kong and relevant countries. Recent examples of
agreement reached in the JLG include certain matters related to the localisation of merchant shipping legislation, and agreement in principle over Hong Kong's continued participation after 1997 in the activities of the
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