TNAG-2193-FCO40-3130-Hong-Kong-nationality-package-1990 — Page 238

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VISIT OF MR LLOYD TO HONG KONG, 17-20 MARCH 1990

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Joint Declaration

DESK OFFICER INDEX

PA

REGISTRY

Action Taken

ease that

1. 92% of Hong Kong's land area is held on a 9 year will expire on 1 July 1997, whereupon it will Tevert to Chinese sovereignty. The remaining 8% could never be viable on its own. So 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

What that Hong Kong's distinct way of life would come to an end. 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. It remains the cornerstone of our policy.

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

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