TNAG-1333-FCO40-1765-Future-of-Hong-Kong-legislation-1985 — Page 118

CONFIDENTIAL

HONG KONG AGREEMENT: LEGISLATION

INTRODUCTION

1.

A draft agreement with the Chinese Government on the future of

Hong Kong was initialled in Peking on 26 September. A White Paper including the text of the agreement has been published in Hong Kong and in London. We envisage the following timetable for handling the

agreement: -

(a) Final date for views to reach the Assessment Office on the

acceptability of the agreement in Hong Kong, 15 November.

(b) Report of Assessment Office and independent team of Monitors

to be published at the end of November.

(c) Debates in Parliament, in the week beginning 3 December.

(d)

(e)

1985.

Signature of agreement, before the end of the year.

Introduction and enactment of legislation in first half of

(f) Ratification by 30 June 1985.

2.

At Chinese insistence the Joint Declaration states that the

agreement will be ratified by 30 June 1985. It will therefore be necessary rapidly to prepare legislation to divest the UK of sovereignty over the ceded territories in 1997, so that it can be

introduced into Parliament as soon as possible after the agreement

is signed. The purpose of this paper is to indicate the content and

form of the legislation, which must be enacted before ratification

can take place and to discuss whether other matters in the agreement

which require legislation by statute at some stage can

some stage can usefully be

dealt with in the same Bill.

CONFIDENTIAL