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We are therefore calling on China, in the interests of Hong Kong,

first, in accordance with its JD commitment to cooperate with British administration of Hong Kong, strictly to honour the undertaking given me by the Chinese Foreign Minister, Vice Premier Qian Qichen, in April this year that "the PL will not assume its functions before 1 July 1997"; and

second, to ensure that the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region takes steps as soon as possible after the handover to replace the provisional legislature with a substantive legislature constituted by genuine elections in the sense in which any reasonable person would understand that term.

If China were seriously to argue that its action was consistent with its JD commitments, we would be willing to join China in submitting the question to independent legal settlement, for example to the International Court of Justice. We should also welcome the views of respected international independent legal institutions on the matter.

The British Government will also take steps to promote future implementation of the Joint Declaration :

first, we reaffirm that our commitment is to work with the constitutional legislature of Hong Kong. We will do nothing to undermine that;

second, the British Government will step up its monitoring of, and reporting on, developments in Hong Kong, before and after the handover. To this end we will report to Parliament on developments in Hong Kong at six-monthly intervals, starting with a report on the period. January-June 1997. These reports will focus on the work of the Sino- British Joint Liaison Group, covering the implementation of the Joint Declaration, with special reference to the protection of human rights in Hong Kong. These reports will be available to the UN Treaty Monitoring Bodies in Geneva. These six-monthly reports will continue at least as long as the Joint Liaison Group exists, that is until 1 January 2000;