TNAG-1966-FCO40-2798-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-the-United-Nations-1989 — Page 4

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Mr Pattson (UND, K155)

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Mr Wood

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HONG KONG ON THE UN'S LIST OF NON-SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES

1. In your minute to Mrs Morphet of 12 June 1989, you asked if we could ascertain whether the UK ever inscribed Hong Kong on the UN's list of Non-Self-Governing Territories, and, if so, how the UK handled debates on Hong Kong at the UN.

2.

Hong Kong was listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory by the UK in 1946 (GA resolution 66(1), Annex 1), and from 1947 the UK regularly submitted information on the Territory under Article 73 (e) of the UN Charter, This stopped in 1972 after the General Assembly by resolution 2908 (XXVII) approved the report of the Committee of 24 (the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples) which recommended the removal of Hong Kong from the list of territories to which the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples applied. I enclose a background note by Sarah Foulds on this dated November 1982 (Annex 2).

3. I can find no evidence of a debate on Hong Kong in the UN. The only reference I have found has been a statement by the UK representative in the Fourth Committee in 1969 (Annex 3), in which he states;

'I do not dwell further on Hong Kong, since I believe that my Soviet colleague and others traditionally have reservations about allowing reference to this territory'.

Hong Kong was considered in the annual study by the Committee of 24 of information transmitted by administering members in accordance with Article 73 (e) of the Charter. However, no reference is made to the status of Hong Kong as a Non-Self-Governing territory in the report of the item (Annex 4 as a typical example). The working paper referred to in paragraph 4 of Annex 4 concerned only practical developments in the territory. It was passed unanimously and transmitted to the Assembly for use by the Fourth Committee. The Assembly was then content each year to adopt an all-embracing resolution on the recommendation of the Fourth Committee by which it approved the Chapter in the report of the Committee of 24 relating to information transmitted under Article 73 (e) of the Charter, including the information on Hong Kong.

4. The UK had no wish to see Hong Kong debated in the UN. Nor, it seems, had the Chinese either before 1971 or after the PRC had taken up its seat at the UN. According to a Steering Committee brief on Hong Kong (IOC(62)155, dated 9/10/62, Annex 5) 'the question of the status of the territory as a whole has never been raised directly with HMG by any Chinese

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