TNAG-0757-FCO40-961-Strength-of-UK-armed-forces-stationed-in-Hong-Kong-1978 — Page 67

FORM AT A GLANCE (as at Aug 78)

INTRODUCTION

1.

UK CONFIDENTIAL

HONG KONG

The Crown Colony of Hong Kong comprises the Island of Hong Kong, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories which include most of the 235 islands in Colony watera. Hong Kong Island and the mainland are separated by one of the best natural harbours in the world. The total area of the Colony including recent reclamation is 404 square miles of which the New Territories occupy 371 square miles, Kowloon 4 square miles and the Island of Hong Kong 29 square miles. The terrain is mountainous and only a relatively small proportion of it is suitable for settle- ment of agriculture. The land frontier with China is just over 29 km long.

CLIMATE

2. Hong Kong has a tropical monsoon climate. The northeast monsoon lasts from October to April. Winds are from the north and north east, bringing rather less than a third of the total annual rainfall which averages 2170 mm (approx 85 in). In the summer months, May to September, winds from south and south east carry the SW monsoons, responsible for just over two-thirds of the total rainfall and a high relative humidity of 80% plus. Maximum daily temperatures range on werage between 27°C in January and February and over 35°C in July: absolute maxims have not so far risen above 30°C. Minimum daily temperatures range from 0°C in January and February to 22°C in July. Occasionally the thermometer has dropped below freezing point at high elevations and in the New Territories. Hong Kong is subject to typhoons, the most critical months being July to September.

HISTORY

3. a. January 1841. The Island of Hong Kong was ceded outright to the Crown

by the Manchus ; this was confirmed by the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842.

b. 1860. At the Convention of Peking, which concluded the second Anglo- Chinese War, Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street, (less an area of 500 yards square known as the Kowloon Walled City) and Stonecutters Island were ceded outright to the Crown.

C.

1898. At the Convention of Peking the New Territories were leased to the Crown for 99 years, expiring in 1997. The 1898 Convention gave China certain rights to station officials in the old Kowloon Walled City; these rights were extinguished by order in Council in 1900 but the Chinese have continued to claim jurisdiction in the area. In January 1963 the Chinese People's Government protested strongly when an attempt was made to redevelop a part of the City and it remains an area over which in practice the Hong Kong Government exercises limited control.

d. 1941. The Colony fell to the Japanese after 17 days of fighting, but was regained in 1945.

1967. Violent local communist inspired riots broke out in the Colony in mid 1967 during the period of the Cultural Revolution in China. The situation was kept under control by combined police and military action, and since the end of 1967 the communists in Hong Kong have been under firm instructions from Peking to keep their activities within the Law.

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UK CONFIDENTIAL