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Government on the 'Administrative Boundaries' of Hong Kong.
have always reserved the right to return to the JLG once
agreement has been reached with Guangdong.
3. The agreement which seems likely to be reached
We
with the Guangdong side will involve the exchange of large areas
of sea and relatively small areas of land resulting from a
straightening of the Shenzhen River. Legal Advice is that
yielding sovereignty over the maritime areas would the laying
before parliament of an order under the Hong Kong Act 1985 using the negative resolution procedure. Legislation would
also be required in Hong Kong, but such legislation would be
controversial as HKG would be seen to be giving away land with
no guarantee from the Chinese side that the agreement would be implemented.
4. Hong Kong prefer (their telno 456 attached) for agreement
to be marked by an MOU (which would not be legally binding ) and make no changes to the Laws of Hong Kong but in practice
not exercise jurisdiction in the territory handed over. We and
Legal Advisers are not attracted to this idea. It would mean
that the Hong Kong security forces would be unable to enforce
the Laws of Hong Kong in those parts of the territory North of
the new line of the river although legally responsible to do
so. Similarly they would have no legal authority to exercise
jurisdiction in those parts of Shenzhen which would lie south
of the river although they would need to do so in combatting
Illegal Immigration.
5. If we reach an agreement with the Chinese side on the new
boundaries in the form of an MOU, there is nothing to stop the Chinese from choosing different boundaries for the SAR eg by
including Shenzhen into the SAR. But it would give the
Guangdong side what it wants, ie a realigned border at which
permits river straightening up to the town of Shenzhen, half
exp8.sub/BOUNDARIES
CONFIDENTIAL