TNAG-1326-FCO40-1738-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-debates-1984 — Page 39

CONFIDENTIAL

7.

I t

The agreement is both comprehensive and detailed. provides a firm basis for the future, and will I believe give confidence both to the people of Hong Kong and to the international community.

8. I will

Noble

I will not go over the agreement point by point. Lords will have had an opportunity to study it in detail since it was published on 26 September. There are however

certain aspects which I would like to emphasise.

9.

The first is that the Joint Declaration and Annexes

together constitute a legally binding international agreement. As the Chinese Foreign Minister recently said, the Joint Declaration is a form of international treaty and

has the same force in international

law.

CONFIDENTIAL