TNAG-1151-FCO40-1431-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-United-Nations-1983 — Page 26

CONFIDENTIAL

Reference

Enter y

MIH 022/3

(64

This was

Done i 1963 when the Committee of 24 took

Over the

function of

The Committee'

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fmation from $ Non-Self- Governe

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CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION ON HONG KONG UNDER ARTICLE 73e OF THE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER

Summary

1

Pas 3/12

Hong Kong was listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the United Kingdom in 1946, and from 1947 the United Kingdom regularly submitted information on the territory under Article 73e of the UN Charter. In 1972, following a request from the People's Republic of China, the General Assembly (Resolution 2908 (XXVII) approved the Report of the Committee of 24 which recommended the removal of Hong Kong from the list of territories to which the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples applied. In the light of this Resolution the United Kingdom decided to cease the transmission of information on Hong Kong under Article 73e. The United Kingdom informed the Secretary-General of this decision in December 1972 and stated that the action of the General Assembly in no way affected the legal status of Hong Kong. Background

see (67)

2. In accordance with the provisions of General Assembly Resolution 9(1) of 9 February 1946 and in order to obtain the information required under Article 73e of the Charter the Secretary General requested all UN members to enumerate the particular non-self-Governing Territories under their jurisdiction. On the basis of the replies to this letter. the General Assembly in Resolution 66(1) of 14 December 1946 noted a list of 74 Non-Self-Governing Territories which included Hong Kong. In accordance with Article 73e of the Charter, the United Kingdom transmitted information on Hong Kong to the Secretary General from 1947.

3. In 1960, the General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, (Resolution 1514 (XV). Follow ng its establishment in 1961 - the Special Committee on the Declaration of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, (now the Committee of 24) approved a preliminary list of Territories, including Hong Kong, to which the Declaration applied. Several representatives in the Working Group of the Committee of 24 re served the positions of their Governments with regard to the inclusion of Hong Kong in this list as they regarded this territory as an integral part of the People's Republic of China forcibly occupied by the United Kingdom, (the se representatives were Bulgaria, Cambodia, USSR).

4.

On 8 March 1972, the Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China, in a letter to the Chairman of the Committee of 24, requested the removal of Hong Kong from the list of territories to which the Declaration on the Granting of Inde- pendence to Colonial Countries and Peoples applied. The Chinese representative stated in a the letter that Hong Kong was part of Chinese territory occupied by the United Kingdom and that the settlement of the question of Hong Kong fell entirely within China's sovereign right. Consequently, Hong Kong should not be included in the list of "colonial territories" and the UN had no right to discuss the question.

66

70

CODE 18-77

CONFIDENTIAL

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