TNAG-2879-FCO40-4151-Agreements-between-the-Hong-Kong-Special-Administrative-Regi-1993 — Page 152

A

INDE

CONFIDENTIAL

HKC 370/9.

DIN DECISTRY

7 Ju. 1993

Mr Cumming

Joint Directorate

five.

17

FROM: P F Ricketts

Hong Kong Department

៤

DATE:

4 June 1993

REGISTRY Action Taken?

cc: Miss Brooks, Legal

Counsellor

AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE UK AND HONG KONG AFTER 1997

1.

Hong Kong will, on 1 July 1997, cease to be a dependent

territory of the United Kingdom and will become a Special

Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.

The agreement relating to the transfer of sovereignty, the

Joint Declaration, allows for the continuation of all the

international rights and obligations currently enjoyed by Hong

Kong, as agreed between the UK and PRC Governments. I enclose

a copy.

2.

Hong Kong's international relations are the responsibility

of the United Kingdom and so Hong Kong has not entered into

treaties of its own but has relied on the application to it of

the UK's treaties or of Commonwealth arrangements. Their

application to Hong Kong will be unable to survive the transfer of sovereignty. We have therefore agreed with the

Chinese authorities, that Hong Kong should negotiate its own

Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAS) based

on an agreed model, under entrustment from the UK. I enclose

a copy of the model IPPA. After each treaty is

initialled we then seek agreement from the Chinese side that

the treaty can continue in force after 1997. The treaty is

then signed by the Hong Kong Government.

CONFIDENTIAL