PAKARA
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(e) as (d) but deface the Red Ensign with the
existing Hong Kong badge, and deface the
PRC flag with a new badge after 1997.
8.6.
Conceptually and legally any of these options
are possible. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
does not require the flag which is to be flown to be of
the same design as the national flag; Britain's merchant
fleet, for example, flies colours recognisable as
British, but it does not fly the Union Flag. What is
conceptually acceptable may not, however, concur with
what is politically and emotionally acceptable.
]
8.7.
The Chinese view is not known though informal
contacts suggest that it had not seriously occurred to
them to use anything other than the PRC flag after
1997. It is therefore quite possible that alternatives
to this have not yet been assessed. As to what flag is
adopted up to 1997 the Chinese appear to assume that the
Red Ensign, defaced if necessary, would be used.
8.8.
From the Hong Kong shipowners point of view, the creation and acceptance of a separate identity for the register is likely to be best met by recourse to.
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