BACKGROUND
Joint Declaration
So
1. 92% of Hong Kong's land area is held on a 99 year lease that
will expire on 1 July 1997, whereupon it will revert to Chinese
sovereignty. The remaining 8% could never be viable on its own.
it has long been recognised that Hong Kong would be returned to
China in 1997. In 1982 when negotiations between Britain and China
began, the fear was that China would simply reabsorb Hong Kong and
that Hong Kong's distinct way of life would come to an end. What
Britain achieved in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 was
agreement on very specific arrangements for Hong Kong's future for
at least 50 years after 1997, as a separate entity with its own way
of life intact.
2. Under the agreement Hong Kong will have its own government,
comprising Hong Kong people, not people brought in from China; the socialist system and socialist policies will not be imposed on Hong
Kong from China; Hong Kong's capitalist system and way of life will
continue, with all its human rights and freedoms, its laws an its
legal system. its own freely convertible currency, its financial
markets and its free port.
3. The Joint Declaration was welcomed in 1984 both in Hong Kong and
internationally, as the best achieveable basis for a secure future
for Hong Kong. Although confidence in Hong Kong was seriously
shaken by the events of last June in China, most people in Hong Kong
continue to regard the Joint Declaration as a good agreement. remains the cornerstone of our policy.
It
Basic Law
4.
The Basic Law will be a constitutional charter for Hong Kong, giving legal effect under the Chinese constitution to the provisions
of the Joint Declaration. As it will be a Chinese law, it has been
drafted by a committee appointed by the Chinese authorities. The first draft was published in April 1988. After a period of
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