TNAG-1022-FCO40-1272-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-United-Nations-1981 — Page 146

CNA AND HONG KONG

CONFIDENTIAL

Hong Kong's Nomenclature in UN Documents

1. The Chinese object to references in UN and other documents,

which they regard as implying that Hong Kong is an independent

country. They have in the past (but not recently) also objected

to references to the 'Government of Hong Kong'. In order to

forestall Chinese objections of this kind, the UK delegation should

check all relevant documents for references to Hong Kong likely to

cause offence to the Chinese. Where it is necessary to refer to

Hong Kong it should be described as a 'territory'. This term was suggested by the Chinese themselves and is entirely acceptable

to the UK Government. It is preferable to the term 'region', which

could be taken as implying that Hong Kong is a region of China

and should be avoided if possible. At the UPU meeting in May,

the Chinese delegation circulated an unusually formal restatement

of the Chinese position on Hong Kong, as a reaction to its

classification in certain documents as an Overseas Territory of

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The

UK delegation accordingly circulated a lowkey reply (see below). It is too early to say whether the Chinese action in the UPU

signifies a policy decision to take a generally harder line on Hong Kong's classification.

2.

If there is reason to believe that the UN Secretariat concerned

is unaware of the difficulty over Hong Kong, the delegation should

endeavour to discuss the matter informally with them before

documents are issued. If it is not possible for the delegation to

avoid the inclusion of unsuitable references to Hong Kong, the

matter should be referred to the FCO immediately.

The Status of Hong Kong

3.

The Chinese have publicly stated that they regard Hong Kong

as Chinese territory occupied by the British Authorities. But

it is clear that, for the time being, they are prepared to accept the status quo and are therefore unlikely to question Hong Kong's

status or HMG's sovereignty in respect of Hong Kong. If the

Chinese were, however, to make a simple protest for the record, the

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/UK

CONFIDENTIAL