TNAG-1040-FCO40-1290-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 77

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cc Sir I Sinclair

Mr Freeland-

Hiere

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RECEIVED IN KEDISTRY NO. 51 27 NOV 1981

230A

Mr Clift, HKGD

FUTURE OF HONG KONG

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DESK OFFICER

wwa dah, wooh mal: PABON, VIŠN

INDEX

PA

Thank you for your minute of 12 Novemben.

REGISTRY

Action Taken

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If the United Kingdom is to relinquish its sovereignty over Hong Kong, an Act of Parliament would, as you say, be needed (the New Territories alone could be surrendered at the expiration of the lease without an Act, but this is a different issue).

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нин 3. If United Kingdom administration is to continue after the relinquishment of sovereignty some sort of agreement between the United Kingdom and China will need to be reached before the date of relinquishment.

4. I envisage that such an agreement would either be a broad and general one (which perhaps need not necessarily be of a formal character) allowing the United Kingdom to carry on much as before or else a more detailed (and formal) one spelling out particulars of the new regime.

5. If the new regime differed from the present one the existing constitutional instruments would have to be replaced.

6. There would be no advantage to the United Kingdom in formally declaring a Protectorate - I merely used the term to describe a situation where the United Kingdom has responsibility for external relations in respect of a territory that does not form part of Her Majesty's dominions the United Kingdom has had responsibility for external relations (or for the conduct of external relations) in respect of a number of States and territories in the past, though never I think as the result of an agreement with a major power like present-day China nor in respect of a former colony.

7. There is little that I can provide by way of advice on specific legal ways and means or devices until some scheme is worked out on the basis of what would be politically feasible and acceptable. This does not matter, however, because I can say, even at this early stage, that if detailed arrangements need to be introduced, their implementation in international law can be effected as necessary by formal or informal agreements and understandings between the United Kingdom and China (or possibly by tacit Chinese acquiescence or sufferance) while their implementation in municipal law can be covered as necessary by a new Act of Parliament where existing powers are insufficient.

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