TNAG-1402-FCO40-1874-Future-of-Hong-Kong-continued-participation-in-the-General-A-1985 — Page 146

Entrustments

Annex

1. At Appendices I and II are forms of entrustment to

the Governments of Bermuda and Antigua of a limited

competence to conduct external relations. Both emphasize

the continued responsibility of the United Kingdom

Government for the conduct of the colony's external affairs

and describe the conferment of authority as a delegation of

authority to conduct external relations on behalf of the UK.

2.

Although the United Kingdom will, as a matter of

international law, retain until 1997 its responsibility for

Hong Kong's external affairs (including any for which an

entrustment is given), to emphasize that and the fact that

Hong Kong is acting on behalf of the UK Government in an

entrustment could well be seen as detracting from any

assertion which we might wish to make as to Hong Kong's

autonomy, even though a state with which Hong Kong proposed

to enter an agreement might wish to be assured formally of

the existence of an entrustment. It would therefore be

proposed to omit those elements from the entrustment to be

issued to Hong Kong. Prudence would however dictate that the

entrustment was the subject of a further despatch making the

point that the United Kingdom retains responsibility and

reserves the power to vary or invoke the entrustment.

entrustment itself would then constitute the Governor's

credentials and powers in particular fields and could be

shown to states which proposed to enter into an agreement

with Hong Kong. The second despatch would not be published,

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