TNAG-1837-FCO40-2612-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 69

i)

to conduct consultations on the implementation of the

Joint Declaration;

ii)

to discuss matters relating to the smooth transfer of government in 1997;

iii)

to exchange information and conduct consultations on such subjects as may be agreed by the two sides.

The Joint Liaison Group meets at senior official level three times a

The British side year: eleven meetings have now taken place.

The Joint includes officials of the Hong Kong Government. Declaration provides that proceedings of the Group will remain confidential unless otherwise agreed between the two sides.

5.

The Sino-British Land Commission conducts consultations on the implementation of the provisions of the Joint Declaration concerning land leases. It discusses technical matters relating to the extension of land leases, the granting of new land leases and

It has held the use of premium income from land transactions.

16 meetings.

6.

The Joint Declaration provides that the policies which it sets out will be stipulated in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, to be promulgated by the National People's Congress. The drafting of the Basic Law is the

The National People's responsibility of the Chinese Government. Congress has established a Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) to undertake this task. It comprises 59 members, 23 of whom are from Hong Kong. A Basic Law Consultative Committee (BLCC) has been formed by the BLDC members resident in Hong Kong to collect and analyse the views of the community on the Basic Law and to convey these to the BLDC. The BLCC has 180 members, all resident in Hong

Kong.

/7. A first