the United Nations on 14 December 1972, which reads as follows:
'I have the honour to refer to 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 asked me 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'.
In most circumstances it is likely to be unnecessary to quote the terms of the letter.
6. If there are any other doubts or problems, the delegation should formally reserve their position and seek immediate guidance from the FCO, repeating any telegram to Peking and Hong Kong.
1.
As noted in (4.) above, when making oral statements or drafting documents of any kind, the delegation should refer to Hong Kong as a "territory".
All Hong Kong problems should be reported to the FCO, at least after the event.
8.
Background:
Hong Kong's Status and Nomenclature
9. The Chinese regard Hong Kong as Chinese territory occupied by the British Authorities. While they accept the status quo for purely practical purposes, they object to references to Hong Kong, made in meetings and in UN and other documents, when they consider these to imply that Hong Kong is an independent country. They also dislike explicit references to Hong Kong as a dependent territory of the UK. The specific terms to which they have objected in recent years have varied according to the context. As well as "country", they have objected to references to the "Government of Hong Kong", and to "territory" when it implies a reference to Hong Kong's position as a dependent territory.
Our preference is for the term "territory". We do not favour terms such as "region", "zone" or "area", which could
10.