TNAG-2363-FCO40-3434-Visits-by-MPs-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1992 — Page 22

SIR JOHN WHEELER MP: VISIT TO HONG KONG:

29 DECEMBER

-

4 JANUARY 1992

HONG KONG: GENERAL

HKD 026 /14

1.

Hong Kong consists of:

(a) Hong Kong Island, ceded by China in 1842 by the

Treaty of Nanking;

(b) The Kowloon peninsula and Stonecutters' Island,

ceded in 1860 by the First Convention of Peking; and

(c) the New Territories, which China leased to Britain

for 99 years in 1898 by the Second Convention of Peking.

Its total land area is 1,064 square kilometres and it has a

population of over 5.5 million of whom 98% are Chinese. The New Territories account for approximately 92% of Hong Kong's total area and more than 50% of its total population.

Administration

2.

Hong Kong is a Dependent Territory, and the Secretary of

State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible to

Parliament for its government. The Territory is

administered by a Governor, with the help of an Executive Council and a Legislative Council.

3. As Hong Kong is a Dependent Territory, there is no British Embassy there. British trade interests are dealt with by the British Trade Commission, which also covers trade with Macao. The Trade Commission includes a China

Trade Unit which is responsible for British trade with China

through Hong Kong, and also, under the supervision of the British Embassy in Peking, for promoting British trade with

the provinces of southern China.

PATAFI/1

сс

52.