TNAG-2118-FCO40-3024-Future-of-Hong-Kong-general-1990 — Page 12

Parliament, the, Zimbabwe Independence Act of

1980 (?).

A rather different example, of even greater complexity, is to be seen in the history of Hong

Kong.

Formally, there are at least two roots to British title to that territory. Hong Kong island itself was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842; the remainder of the colony (92% of its total area) was leased to Britain

The Peoples

for a term of 99 years in 1898.

Republic of China, however, has never

acknowledged the legitimacy of the "unequal treaties" on which the British based their

title.

54

}