TNAG-1311-FCO40-1673-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1984 — Page 104

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NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MINISTERIAL MEETING: BRUSSELS:

13-14 DECEMBER 1984

BRIEF NO 20: HONG KONG

POINTS TO MAKE

1.

[Parliament has now endorsed HMG's intention to sign draft

Sino-British agreement on Hong Kong's future initialled Peking 26 September].

2. In doing so, Parliament took full account of views of people of

Hog Kong on overall acceptability. These collated and assessed by Assessment Office in Hong Kong. Independent Monitors confirmed that Assessment Office had carried out task impartially,

task impartially, faithfully and

accurately.

3. Agreement to be signed by Prime Minister and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang on 19 December in Peking. I shall accompany. 4 Believe agreement best possible guarantee of Hong Kong's stability/prosperity. Key features:

international agreement legally binding in all its parts;

sets out clearly and in detail arrangements which will prevail in

Hong Kong after 1997 as Special Administrative Region (SAR) of People's Republic of China. These based on continuity in present systems/lifestyle and thus provide necessary assurances about the

future for people of Hong Kong and international community; provides that arrangements for Hong Kong spelt out in agreement be to be stipulated in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR to be passed by National People's Congress of PRC and to remain

unchanged for fifty years after 1997.

Hong Kong Department

6 December 1984

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