Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
CONFIDENTIAL
RESEARCH DEPT.
Quandment's.
DRAFT
BLUE SUBMISSION
Type 1 +
DSR 11
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
copies:
In Confidence
Mr Samuel FED
Mr Rushford LEGAL ADVISERS
Miss Bishop ESEARCH DEPT
FLAG B
To:-
Mr Male
Mr Cortazzi
PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts
PS/Mr Luard
STATUS OF HONG KONG
.
From
Mr Stewart
Telephone No. Ext. 233 3184
Department HONG KONG
1. Mr Luard has said that he would like to know when and in what terms TMG last made a definitive public statement on the status of Hong Kong. (Mr Green's minute FLAG of 16 November). He would also like a substantive reply
to be sent to Mr Hooley, perhaps in the form of a letter, in answer to his recent Question on this matter (Hansard, 15 November, Written Answers, Col. 358).
2. The powers of the Crown and the relationship of the Hong Kong. Government to the Crown are set out in the Hong Kong Letters Patent of 1917, which, though subject to subsequent amendments, are still in force. The fact that Britain exercises sovereignty over Hong Kong is made cler in the Letters Patent. British Miniters and representatives at meetings of international organisations have on a number of occasions stated that there has been no change in the status of Hong Kong. Mr Rees Williams, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office, stated in answer. to a Parliamentary Question on 7 July 1948 that there was no change in Hong Kong's position as a Crown Colony. Lord Shepherd, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, stabd in the House of Lords on 14 November 1967 that HMG would not consider any abrogation of their responsibility to the people of Hong Kong.. More recently, on April this year, Lord Goronwy-Roberts
1
اسم
*
said in the House of Lords that "HMG will continue to administer the territory of Hong Kong in the interests of those who
live there. #1
These statements, like that in
Sir Colin Crowe's letter of 14 December 1972 to the UN
Secretary General, contain an implicit assertion of British sovereignty over Hong Kong. So too does a memorandum
/ which
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