CONFIDENTIAL
File
13
Your Ref:
Our Ref:
Date: 12 May 1993
HKC 370/9
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY 13 MAY 1993
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SWIA 2AH
DESK OFFICER INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
Telephone: 071-
270-2647
Mr Ray Smith
Room 478
C2 Division
Home Office
Queen Anne's Gate
Dear Mr Sunlit,
AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE UK AND HONG KONG AFTER 1997
1.
Hong Kong will, on 1 July 1997, cease to be a dependent territory of the United Kingdom and will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. The agreement relating to the transfer of sovereignty, the Joint Declaration, allows for the continuation of all the international rights and obligations currently enjoyed by Hong Kong, as agreed between the UK and PRC Governments. I enclose a copy.
2.
Hong Kong's international relations are the responsibility of the United Kingdom and so Hong Kong has not entered into treaties of its own but has relied on the application to it of the UK's treaties or of Commonwealth arrangements. Their application to Hong Kong will be unable to survive the transfer of sovereignty. We have therefore agreed with the Chinese authorities, that Hong Kong should negotiate its own extradition treaties, based on an agreed model, under entrustment from the UK. I enclose a copy of the model extradition treaty. After each treaty is initialled we then seek agreement from the Chinese side that the treaty can continue in force after 1997. The treaty is then signed by Hong Kong Government.
3.
Unfortunately, such treaties cannot be put into place before 1997 in the case of the United Kingdom, since one part of the territory of the UK cannot enter into legally binding agreements with another part of that territory. Additionally the PRC would be very suspicious of any treaty negotiated between the present Hong Kong Government and the
CONFIDENTIAL