KONG
AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG
An agreement on the future of Hong Kong was initialled in Peking on
26 September 1984. The text of the agreement was published as a
White Paper in London and Hong Kong. An Assessment Office was
established in Hong Kong under the auspices of the Governor to
collate and assess the opinion of the people of Hong Kong on the
overall acceptability of the Agreement. The Assessment Office
concluded that the agreement was broadly acceptable to most of the
people of Hong Kong. Independent monitors of the assessment procedure concluded that the Assessment Office had discharged its responsiblities properly, impartially and accurately.
Parliament debated the agreement in December 1984 in the light of
the Assessor's and Monitors' reports and endorsed HMG's intention to
proceed to signature of the Agreement. The Prime Minister and the Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Agreement in Peking on 19
December 1984.
The Hong Kong Act has passed through Parliament and received Royal Assent on 4 April. The Act will enable us to ratify the Agreement which states that ratification shall take place before 30 June 1985. It makes provision for the termination of British sovereignty over
Hong Kong as from 1 July 1997 and for other consequential and
connected matters.
The Hong Kong agreement consists of:
A Joint Declaration, in which the United Kingdom declares that it will return Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the Chinese Government declares in broad outlines its policies towards Hong Kong, and the two Governments agree to implement
these declarations and the Annexes;
Annex I in which the Chinese Government expands on different aspects of its policies towards Hong Kong in fourteen sections;
Annex II which sets out the terms of reference and outline
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