letter at (41
HICC 01/5
RECEIVED IN PURI
5 APR 1993
DESK OFFICER
REGISTRY
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
42
31 March 1993
INDEX
PA Aton Take
London SW1A 2AH
Mr T Sackville, House of Commons London SW1A (AA
Dear Tam
1/4
From The Minister of State
Thank you for your letter of 19 March reporting the concerns of your constituent Mr Brown of 4 Shrewsbury Road, Heaton, Bolton over the current negotiations about Hong Kong.
As Mr Brown may be aware, we obtained title to a small proportion (8%) of Hong Kong in 1842 and 1860, the treaties by which we did so both implicitly recognised that before then Hong Kong had been part of China. While it is true that Palmerstone memorably described Hong Kong in Parliament as a barren rock with hardly a house upon it'. In fact
the Hong Kong Government estimate that at the time of the ceding of Hong Kong there were 3650 people living there as well as some 2000 residing permanently in boats in the harbour.
The vast majority of the land area of Hong Kong was obtained on a 99 year lease which is due to expire in 1997. It was decided by the British Government in the early 1980s that the 8% of Hong Kong not covered by the lease would not be viable without the remaining 92%. The option of trying to hang on to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in the face of certain strong Chinese opposition was rejected. The prospect of such a split would have wrecked the economy and future of Hong Kong.
To ensure the future success of Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty after July 1997, we concluded with China the Joint Declaration of 1984. This guarantees (in considerable detail) that Hong Kong's way of life will continue for 50 years after 1997. We remain convinced that the Joint Declaration is the best and surest foundation for the future of Hong Kong.
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Мак
ALASTAIR GOODLAD
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