TNAG-2364-FCO40-3436-Visit-by-Margaret-Thatcher--former-UK-Prime-Minister--to-Hon-1991 — Page 20

VISIT TO HONG KONG BY THE RT HON MRS MARGARET THATCHER MP:

12-14 SEPTEMBER 1991

HONG KONG: GENERAL

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Geography

1.

Hong Kong consists of:

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(a) Hong Kong Island, ceded by China by the Treaty of

Nanking (1842);

(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. The Governor is the head of government and has the power

to make laws (called "ordinances") for the "peace, order and

good government" of Hong Kong. His authority derives from

the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions. The Crown reserves the power to disallow ordinances enacted in Hong Kong and to legislate for the Territory by Order in Council. In practice, no post-war British Government has exercised the power of disallowance. English common law and the rules of equity are in force in Hong Kong, extended and modified as necessary by local legislation.

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