TNAG-2490-FCO40-3622-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1992 — Page 38

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(5)

The major points discussed in the course of negotiations included :

(a) the refusal on the part of the Chinese Government to accept the continuation of British administration in Hong Kong after 1997;

(b)

(c)

the consideration of effective measures other than continued British administration which might be devised to maintain the stability and prosperity Hong Kong; and

of

the exploration of the feasibility of the Chinese Government's concept of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Initialling of the Draft Agreement

By September 1984, negotiators of the British and Chinese Governments had approved the English and Chinese texts of the documents that made up the Agreement and the associated Exchange of Memoranda. These were submitted to British Ministers and Chinese leaders for final approval and the texts were initialled by the two delegation leaders on 26 September 1984.

II.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SINO-BRITISH JOINT DECLARATION

(1)

(2)

It is a formal international agreement legally binding on the two sovereign states which signed them.

It delineates a framework for Chinese policies towards Hong Kong after 1997.

(3)

It

(4)

describes in detail the way Hong Kong will work after July 1997, the extent of the autonomy and the continuity which will prevail then.

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It sets out the relationship between the provisions which it contains and the future Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

(5)

It provides for the establishment of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group and Land Commission to ensure smooth transition to 1997.

a

3