TNAG-1393-FCO40-1865-Future-of-Hong-Kong-briefing-for-meetings-and-visits-1985 — Page 34

你

BACKGROUND

RESTRICTED

7. A Joint Declaration on the question of

the question of Hong Kong was signed

by the British and Chinese Prime Ministers on 19 December 1984

and registered with the United Nations on 12 June 1985. Under the terms of this agreement Hong Kong will be restored to China

with effect from 1 July 1997, and will become a Special

Administrative Region of China with a high degree of autonomy.

8. In light of this agreement it is unlikely that the Chinese

will raise the question of the status of Hong Kong. If they do so it is our aim to keep any exchanges as low-key as possible,

and base them on the language of

of the

the Joint Declaration, rather

than as previously on the letter from Her Majesty's Representative in New York to the Secretary General of the United

Nations of 14 December 1972.

9.

The Chinese will continue however to be sensitive about the

language used to describe Hong Kong, and every effort should be made to eliminate unsuitable references to Hong Kong. The Chinese regard Hong Kong as Chinese territory occupied by the British Authorities. While they accept the status quo for purely practical purposes, they object to references to Hong Kong, made in meetings and in UN and other documents, when they consider these to imply that Hong Kong is an independent country. They also dislike explicit references to Hong Kong as a dependent territory of the

the UK. The specific terms to

to which they have

objected in recent years have varied according to the

the context.

As well as "country", they have objected to references to the "Government of Hong Kong", and to "territory" when it implies a reference to Hong Kong's position as a dependent territory. Our

preference is for the term "territory". We do not favour terms

such as "region", "zone" or "area", which could be taken as

implying that Hong Kong is a region of China. We have however acquiesced in the heading "countries and areas" in UN statistical publications so long as there is a disclaimer to the effect that

"country or area" should be interpreted to cover countries, territories, cities or areas. As noted above, we can also accept

"area" as a last resort.