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E. CHINESE ATTITUDE AND INTENTIONS TOWARDS HONG KONG
•
General Principles
36. The Chinese regard Hong Kong and the New Territories as
part of China. It is doubtful whether they see any essential
difference between the status of the Crown Colony and the
leased territory. They consider that all the 19th century
treaties with the Great Powers were "unequal" and that the
present Chinese Government should not necessarily continue to
be bound by them. The most specific official statement about
the way in which the Chinese regard the treaties relating to
Hong Kong appeared in a People's Daily editorial of 8 March,
1963, which said that "with regard to the outstanding issues
which are a legacy of the past we have always held that when conditions are ripe (such questions) should be settled peace-
fully through negotiations. Pending a settlement, the status
quo should be maintained.
Within this category are the questions
of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Macao."
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It is inconceivable that any communist Chinese government
It is would negotiate an extension of the Hong Kong lease.
extremely unlikely that a Chinese government of any complexion
would be prepared to do so, although there is a remote possi- bility that by 1997 (when the lease expires), there might be a
government in Peking which would be prepared to acquiesce in an
extension of the status quo without any formal re-negotiation
of the lease.
13.
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