XN000022-1985-01-22 — Page 37

8

The Agreement

24.

That key was provided by the initialling in Peking on the 26th of September last year of the draft Sino-British agreement. The

agreement received an immediate welcome, and I had no difficulty in -

commending it to the people of Hong Kong. The cmolusion that ther

agreement is a good one has been endorsed by the people of Hong Kong,

by both Houses of Parliament, and by the intemational community.

25.

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· The agreement came as an agreeable surprise to most people for

a number of reasons. Not only did it provide for the continuation of

the essentials of Hong Kong's life-style and economic systems; it set

them out in specific terms, and in binding form.

I

26.

The terms of the agreement are already widely known. But I

should like to remind you of some of its provisions which are of

particular importance to the business community. In 1997, Hong Kong will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's

Republic of China; but the socialist policies adopted in the People!' a

Republic will not be applied in Hong Kong. The agreement provides that

the economic and financial systems in Hong Kong will in all essential

respecta remain for fifty years after 1997. Hong Kong will maintain

its own familiar system of law. As an SAR it will continue to determine

its own financial policy and manage its own financial resources. It

will decide on its own economic and trade policies in the light of its

own needs. The free enterprise system, free trade policies and free

port will continue; so will individual rights and freedoms including

those in economic matters, such as freedom of movement of capital, the

right to own and dispose of property, and the right to full and prompt

compensation for lawful deprivation of property. The Hong Kong dollar

will reamin freely convertible, and Hong Kong will retain the right to manage the Exchange Fund. Hong Kong will retain the authority to conduct

its own extemal affairs in economic, trade, financial, monetary and

shipping matters, and will retain a large degree of autonomy in civil

aviation. Existing leases and rights in land will continue after 1997;

renewable leases can be extended up to the year 2047, and new leases

can be granted extending up to the same date.

/27.