TNAG-1153-FCO40-1433-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-international-organisations-1982 — Page 43

IPU MAIN CONFERENCE, ROME 1982

HONG KONG/CHINA

File

1.

Hong Kong is a British Dependent Territory, administered

by a Governor (appointed by the Crown) with an advisory

Executive Council and Legislative Council. It consists of:

Hong Kong Island, ceded by China in perpetuity

(a)

(b)

by the Treaty of Nanking (1842);

Kowloon and Stonecutters' Island, similarly

ceded in 1860 by the First Convention of Peking;

and

(c)

the New Territories, which China leased to

Britain for 99 years in 1898 by the Second

Convention of Peking.

The lease on the New Territories expires in 1997.

2.

The Chinese consider the Treaty of Nanking and both

Conventions of Peking as 'unequal treaties', forced on China

during internal weakness, and do not recognise them. They

regard Hong Kong as a part of China temporarily under British

rule, a 'problem left over from history' to be dealt with when

the time is right by peaceful means.

3.

At Chinese instigation Hong Kong was in 1972 removed

the UN list of dependent territories to be considered as

candidates for independence by the Committee of 24.

14.