TNAG-0849-FCO40-1059-Future-of-Hong-Kong-New-Territories-leases-1979 — Page 30

X

DSR 11C

SECRET

leases without a fixed date have not been issued before in

Hong Kong. The second reason is that there are many

thousands of land leases in the New Territories; they must

all be altered at the same time.

Doubts

4. Similarly, there is a legal problem about the

Governor's powers to administer the New Territories.

about this could undermine the value of removing the 1997

date from the leases. Under present British law the

Governor's powers of administration in the New Territories

end in 1997. We therefore intend also to remove this

There would

then be no

purely legal obstacle. This would remove any legal

impediment under British law to the continuation of the

present administration in the New Territories after 1997. This aclim But it would be purely permissive. That is to say, its

only effect would be to permit such administration to

continue under British law if, at the time, the Chinese

Government so wished. It would not in any way prejudice

what those wishes would be.

5. To deal with these two aspects of the problem it will

be necessary to pass a law on land leases in Hong Kong and

issue an Order in Council in London. The latter is a legal

act which does not have to be approved or discussed by

parliament.

Our present intention is to announce the steps

we propose to take when the Governor opens the Hong Kong

Legislative Council in October. In doing so, we would

naturally make it clear that these steps were entirely

without prejudice to the Chinese position on Hong Kong,

and did not commit either the present or future Chinese

Governments to any particular course of action with regard

to the future of the territory.

SECRET

[a copy

Dd 0532000 400 M 5/78 HMSO Bracknell

Page 30Page 31