TNAG-0831-FCO40-1039-Commonwealth-Parliamentary-Association-(CPA)-annual-conferen-1979 — Page 51

II CONFIDENCE

SECTION 1:

1.1

CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND

Hong Kong consists of three areas:-

(a)

(c)

Hong Kong Island, which China ceded to Britain in perpetuity in 1852 by the Treaty of Nanking;

(b) Kowloon and Stonecutters' Islands, which are similarly

ceded in 1860 by the First Convention of Peking; and the New Territories, which China leased to Britain for 99 years in 1898 by the Second Convention of Peking.

Its total land area is 404 square miles and it has a population of approximately 4.8 million (of whom 98% may be described as Chinese on the basis of language and culture).

7

1.2 Hong Kong is a Crown Colony and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is directly responsible to Parlia- ment for its government. Hong Kong is itself administered, under the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions, by a Governor, an Executive Council and a Legislative Council.

1.3 The Governor has wide powers under the constitution, including the power to make laws (called 'Ordinances') for the "peace, order and good government of the Colony". The Crown reserves the power of disallowance in respect of all ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and to legislate for the Colony by Order in Council. In practice, no post- war British Government has exercised this power.

1.4

The Governor is advised by an Executive Council (known as "Exco") of 15 members, comprising:

(a)

(b)

5 Ex-officio members (the Chief Secretary, the Financial Secretary, the Commander of the British Forces, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary for Home Affairs); and 10 other members appointed by the Governor who may be either Official (ie members of the Hong Kong Government) or Unofficial. (At present there are 9 Unofficials and 1 Official.) The Governor is constitutionally required to consult Exco on all matters except those he considers

}