Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Telephone 01-
UNCLASSIFIED
Leonard Hay Esq
Conference Secretary
The World Ministerial Summit to Reduce the Demand for Drugs and Combat the Cocaine Threat
Your reference
ROEAEN
Our reference
11 April 1990
Date
Dear Mr Hay,
With reference to the communication from the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to you dated 9 April 1990, I wish to inform you that the British Government's views on this question were clearly stated in the letter addressed by Her Majesty's Representative in New York to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 14 December 1972, which reads as follows:
"I have the honour to refer to the General Assembly Resolution 2906 (XXXVIII) of 2 November 1972 and in particular to paragraph 3, which approved the report of the Special Committee on the situation with regard to the implementation of the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples covering its work during 1972. My Government have asked me to inform Your Excellency that, in view of paragraph 73 of Chapter 1 of the Report of the Special Committee (A/8723 (Part 1)), they have decided that no useful practical purpose would be served by continuing to transmit information on Hong Kong under Article 73 of the United Nations Charter. My Government have also
to state that the action of the General Assembly in no way affects the legal status of Hong Kong. The views of my Government about this status are well known. They are unable to accept any differing views which have been expressed or may hereafter be expressed by other Governments."
Yours sinunly,
Ratine fore
R M Marsden
Hong Kong Department