17 May 1993
HKC 012/5
RECEIVED !
18 MAY 1993
ISTRY
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
DESK OFFER
INDLX
PA
Syron Take
70
Mr Stephen Dorrell MP
House of Commons
London
SWIA OAA
Der Stech.
From The Minister of State
The Mashall, Ли
Rubb
+ p.
giels
Thank you for your letter of 13 May 1993 enclosing a letter from your constituent Mr Willis of 45 Arthur Street, Loughborough.
The
You may reassure Mr Willis that there has never been any cover-up about the terms of the British lease on Hong Kong. treaties of 1842 and 1860 ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to Great Britain, and the treaty of 1898 leased the New Territories to Great Britain for 99 years. These were all public documents.
It has long been recognised that Hong Kong Island and Kowloon (together comprising only 8% of the territory of Hong Kong) could not survive without the New Territories, where amongst other things Hong Kong's airport and port facilities are situated. matter has been exhaustively debated in Parliament and elsewhere.
I enclose a copy of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 for Mr Willis's information. This was ratified by Parliament in 1984. The introduction gives a full explanation of the historical background and addresses Mr Willis's point in paragraph 29.
له
The
Ат
ALASTAIR GOODLAD