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'I have the honour to refer to General Assemby Resolution 2906 (XXXVIII) of 2 November 1972 and in particular to paragraph 3, which approved the report of the Special Committee on the sitution with regard to the implementation of the declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples covering its work during 1972. My Government have asked me to inform Your Excellency that, in view of paragraph 73 of Chapter 1 of the Report of the Special Committee (A/8723 (Part 1)), they have decided that no useful prctical purpose would be served by continuing to transmit information on Hong Kong under Article 73 of the United Nations. Charter. My Government have also asked me to state that the action of the General Assembly inno way affects the legal status of Hong Kong. The views of my Government about this staus are well known. They are unable to accept any differing views which have been expressed or may hereafter be expressed by other Governments'.
In most circumstances it is likely to be unnecesary to quote the terms of the letter.
a
6.
If there are any other doubts or problems, the delegtion should formally reserve their position and seek immedite guidance from the
FCO, repeating any telegram to Peking, and Hong Kong and UKREP JLG Hong Kong.
7. As noted in (4.) above, when making oral statements or drafting documents of any kind, the delegation should refer to Hong Kong as a "territory".
8.
All Hong Kong problems should be reported to the FCO, at least after the event.
Background: Hong Kong's Status and Nomenclature
9.
The Chinese regard Hong Kong as Chinese territory occupied by the British Authorities. While they accept the status quo for purely practical purposes but dislike explicit references to Hong Kong as a dependent territory of the UK. They also object to references to Hong Kong in meetings and in UN and other documents when they consider these to imply that Hong Kong is an independent country. The specific terms to which they have objected in recent years have varied according to the context. As well as "country", they have objected to references to the "Government of Hong Kong", and to "territory" when it implies a reference to Hong Kong's position as a dependent territory.
We do not favour 10. Our preference is for the term "territory". terms such as "region", "zone" or "area", which could be taken as
We have however implying that Hong Kong is a region of China. acquiesced in the heading "countries and areas" in UN statistical publications so long as there is a disclaimer to the effect that
'country or area" should be interpreted to cover countries, territories, cities or areas. As noted above, we can also accept "area" as a last resort. The successful conclusion in 1984 of negotiations on the future of Hong Kong after 1997 should reduce
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