TNAG-1843-FCO40-2618-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 30

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BRIEF A: IMPLEMENTATION OF JOINT DECLARATION

1.

JLG

(a)

JLG: Progress and Achievements

The Sino-British Joint Liaison Group is the main forum for discussing the implementation of the Joint Declaration with the Chinese Government. Since it was established in July 1985, there have been 12 plenary meetings. One has just taken place in Peking.

There have also been very many meetings at expert level.

Since

1 July 1988 when Hong Kong became the JLG's principal base and both sides established their JLG Offices in Hong Kong, there have been regular and frequent contacts between them.

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The main achievements of the JLG to date are set out in Annex B

to the memorandum we have submitted to the Committee. They cover a wide range of matters, all of which are of great importance to Hong Kong's future. Many of these agreements are very technical. All have been achieved only after detailed and complex negotiations let me give two or three examples:

Membership of GATT

At very first JLG meeting in mid-1985 we proposed that arrangements should be made for Hong Kong to be deemed a separate contracting party to the GATT so that her status in GATT would remain unchanged after 1997. The Chinese side initially resisted this proposal. They argued that Hong Kong should participate in the GATT after 1997 under the Chinese umbrella. This was despite the fact that China at the time had not resumed its position in the GATT, and still has not done so. The Chinese eventually agreed to the British proposals at the third meeting of the JLG.

1

Civil Service Pensions

The

Another example is the revised Civil Service pension scheme. Civil Service plays a, very important role in the successful running of Hong Kong. It is essential to the continued stability and

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