TNAG-0943-FCO40-1162-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 222

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British sovereignty is clear. An Order In Council of 20 October 1898 (Annex H) which provided for the administration

of the New Territories, stated unequivocally that, during

the period of the lease, the New Territories would be

"part and parcel of Her Majesty's Colony of Hong Kong in like manner and for all intents and purposes as if they had originally formed part of the said Colony". The same wording was adopted in the Order In Council of 27 December 1899 (Annex I) which absorbed, again for the term of the 99-year

lease, the city of Kowloon under the administration of the

Colony of Hong Kong. Questions on the future of the New

Territories thus became as much a question of the future of

the ceded parts of Hong Kong and the future of the Colony

as a whole.

6.

One important problem with far reaching implications for

Britain and Hong Kong concerns property leases in the New

Territories. Because the Crown's lease of the New Territories

under the Peking Convention of 1898 expires in 1997, all property leases in the New Territories have been written to end in 1997. There is concern that the now steadily shortening span of existing leases, and the inability of the Government of Hong Kong to grant new ones extending beyond 1997, might soon begin to deter investment and undermine confidence in the future of Hong Kong.

7.

British Ministers and representatives have on a number

of occasions since the Second World War maintained British

responsibility for Hong Kong. Mr Rees Williams, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the 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. During a serious spate of rioting in Hong Kong, Lord Beswick for the Government in a House of Lords debate said on 22 June 1967 "this fascinating and dynamic Colony is our undoubted responsibility" and "it is our intention to maintain our position and our authority in Hong Kong" On 19 December 1972 the British Ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Colin Crowe wrote to the Secretary-General of the UN declaring

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