TNAG-1355-FCO40-1796-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 122

Hong Kong Link

Hong Kong Link is an independent group formed in 1985 at the initiative of Hong Kong people resident in Britain and several British organisations. Its purpose is to monitor Britain's implementation of the Anglo-Chinese Agreement under which Hong Kong will become part of China in 1997. It supports the introduction of direct elections in Hong Kong, and has the support of a number of British Churches and other organisations which have a particular interest in Britain's relations with the territory and its people during the transition period.

Hong Kong Link 1985

ISBN 0 946848 18 1

Printed by Russell Press Ltd., Gamble Street, Nottingham NG7 4ET

Co by Jan Brown Designs

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Introduction

In September 1984 the British and Chinese governments announced that Hong Kong, at present administered by the United Kingdom, will be part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from July 1 1997. Under the terms of their agreement, Hong Kong's way of life will broadly be preserved for some 50 years after 1997, and the territory will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Until 1997, Britain will continue to administer the territory.

The negotiations were conducted in secret by the British and Chinese governments, neither of whom are accountable to the people of Hong Kong, who were not represented. They were widely reported in the international press, and for a brief period Hong Kong escaped from the financial pages and became in Britain a policy issue of general interest. In May 1984 the House of Commons held a full debate on Hong Kong for the first time in many years.

The Chinese and British governments both acclaimed the agreement as a triumph of realistic diplomacy. It was given the Queen's assent in London on April 4 1985, and approved officially by the 6th National People's Congress in China on April 10.

Since then, British interest in the territory has once again declined. Though over half of Hong Kong's 5 million people are British nationals, for many people the issue is now closed. Such an attitude is misplaced. If the signing of the Agreement marks the end of Britain's strictly colonial regime in Hong Kong, it is the beginning of perhaps the most crucial period of British administration, during which the people of Hong Kong must prepare for their passage into Chinese sovereignty.

The magnitude of what needs to be done becomes apparent when it is realized that English remains the primary language of administration, the school system and the legal profession, that until 1982 little progress had

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