ANNUAL REPORT ON HONG KONG
1990
I.
Introduction
1. Her Majesty's Government agreed in 1985, during the Parliamentary debates on the Hong Kong Bill, to produce annual reports on Hong Kong and to lay them before Parliament. The purpose of this series of reports is to keep Parliament informed of developments in Hong Kong on a regular basis. This is the sixth such report and it contains a survey of the main events in Hong Kong during 1990.
II. Visits to Hong Kong by Members of the Royal Family and Government Ministers 2. The frequency of high level British visits to Hong Kong is a measure of the importance the Government attach to the affairs of the territory. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, and Her Royal Highness the Princess Alexandra with the Hon Sir Angus Ogilvy each visited Hong Kong in November. There have been visits by the following Ministers: by Mr Michael Howard, Secretary of State for Employment, in September; by Mr Francis Maude, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in April and July and by his successor, Lord Caithness, in September. There were also visits by Mr Tim Sainsbury, Minister for Trade and Mr David Mellor, Minister for the Arts, in September; and by Mr John Maples, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, in November.
III. Hong Kong and China
(a) Sino-British Regulations
3. The Government continue to consider close and friendly relations with China as important in themselves and of direct benefit to Hong Kong. They regard a co-operative relationship with China as essential to the territory's future well-being. During 1990, Her Majesty's Government have worked for a steady improvement in Sino-British relations, particularly after the difficulties of 1989. The then Minister with responsibility for Hong Kong, Mr Francis Maude, visited Peking in July. In October, the 12 member States of the European Community decided on a relaxation of the restrictive measures taken against China in June 1989. In November, the Chinese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Tian Zengpei, visited London. A further increase in high level contacts is expected in the coming months.
(b) Basic Law
4. The Joint Declaration provides that the basic policies of the People's Republic of China regarding Hong King will be stipulated in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and will remain unchanged for fifty years. Enacted and promulgated on 4 April 1990 by the National People's Congress, the Basic Law is the product of extensive consultations with the people of Hong Kong, conducted over a period of five years by the Chinese authorities. Her Majesty's Government took a very close interest in this process, making their views known to the Chinese authorities through a variety of channels. Their concern throughout the drafting process was to ensure consistency between the Basic Law and the provisions of the Joint Declaration. On the whole they are satisfied that this has been achieved and that the Basic Law provides a firm foundation for Hong Kong's future as a Special Administrative Region of China. But there are some provisions which they would have preferred to have seen omitted or drafted differently.
(c) Sino-British Joint Liaison Group and Land Commission
5. Plenary meetings of the Joint Liaison Group were held in March in Peking, in September in London and in December in Hong Kong. There was a slow but steady return to normal business following the disruption in the Group's work in 1989. This process was helped by a gradual improvement in Sino-British relations during the same period.
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