TNAG-2487-FCO40-3618-Future-relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1992 — Page 79

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public figures; and if necessary they could consult more widely

/

and get further advice. Accordingly, it was at Chinese insistence

that the negotiations have been conducted entirely on a

lateral basis.12

bi-

In the event, there was close cooperation between Whitehall

and the Hong Kong governor and his Executive Council in the

conduct of the negotiations. The British side also took note of

the views expressed in the various representative bodies such as

the local District Boards, the Legislative Council (which form

1985 included a proportion of members chosen from functional

groups in business, the professions, etc.,) and by other public

bodies, prominent business people, academics, journalists and so

on. More importantly, perhaps, the (British) Hong Kong government

publicly sought and obtained the endorsement by

by the local

population of the Joint Declaration without a word of protest

from the Chinese side. Nor have the Chinese raised any objection

whatsoever to the representatives of the existing government

formally occupying the Hong Kong seat at the GATT or the Asia

Pacific Economic Council (APEC) and other international

organizations (provided of course that these do not require

sovereignty as a condition of membership). PRC representatives

sit alongside those of Hong Kong without ever questioning the way

in which they articulate the territory's interests or querying

their right to do so. Accordingly, the Chinese rejection of Hong

Kong independent representation in the negotiations is based less

(Hong Kong: South China

12David Bonavia, Hong Kong 1997 (Hong Morning Post, 1985) pp.102-104.