| Sino-British Joint Declaration | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 中英聯合聲明 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中英联合声明 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong | |||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中華人民共和國政府和大不列顛及北愛爾蘭聯合王國政府關於香港問題的聯合聲明 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中华人民共和国政府和大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国政府关于香港问题的联合声明 | ||||||||||||||||
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The Sino-British Joint Declaration, formally known as the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, was signed by the Prime Ministers, Zhao Ziyang and Margaret Thatcher, of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United Kingdom (UK) governments on 19 December 1984 in Beijing.[1]
The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985, and was registered by the PRC and UK governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985. In the Joint Declaration, the PRC Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997, and the UK Government declared that it would hand over Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. The PRC Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong in the document.
In accordance with the "One country, two systems" principle agreed between the UK and the PRC, the socialist system of PRC would not be practiced in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years until 2047. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies should be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law and that the socialist system and socialist policies shall not be practised in HKSAR.
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The background of the Sino-British Joint Declaration was the pending expiration of the lease of the New Territories on 1 July 1997. The lease was negotiated between the UK and the Guangxu Emperor of China, and was for a period of 99 years starting from 1 July 1898 under the Second Convention of Peking. At the time of the lease signing, Hong Kong Island had already been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842 after the First Opium War, and the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula as well as the Stonecutters Island had also been ceded to the UK in perpetuity under the Convention of Beijing in 1860 after the Second Opium War.
In the late 1970s the territory and foreign investors were concerned about the future of Hong Kong. The main problem was about land lease in the New Territories which was set to expire in 1997. With the visit of the Governor of Hong Kong, Murray MacLehose, in Peking in March 1979 the discussion about the future of Hong Kong began. An attempt was made to solve the question of land lease expiring in 1997. The first discussions begun with Chairman Deng Xiaoping of the PRC during the visit of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher, to China in September 1982.
During the following discussions, where the Governor of Hong Kong took part in every round of formal talks as a member of the British delegation, it became clear that the continuation of British administration after 1997 would not be acceptable to China in any form. The Chinese Government has consistently taken the view that the whole of Hong Kong should be Chinese territory, due to what they perceived as the inequality of historical treaties. As a result the two sides discussed other effective measures than continued British administration and came up with the concept of Hong Kong as a Special Administration Region of the PRC. In April 1984 the two sides concluded the initial discussion of these matters and arranged that Hong Kong would retain a high degree of autonomy under Chinese sovereignty with the preservation of the maintained lifestyle in Hong Kong. By 18 September 1984 both sides had approved the English and Chinese texts of the documents and the associated Exchange of Memoranda.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration consist of eight paragraphs, three Annexes about the Basic Policies regarding Hong Kong, the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group and the Land Leases as well as the two Memoranda of the two sides. Each part has the same status, and “The whole makes up a formal international agreement, legally binding in all its parts. An international agreement of this kind is the highest form of commitment between two sovereign states.”[2] Within these declarations the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be directly under the authority of the Central People’s Government of the PRC and shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy except for foreign and defence affairs. It shall be allowed to have executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. The Basic Law explains that in addition to Chinese, English may also be used in organs of government and that apart from the national flag and national emblem of the PRC the HKSAR may use a regional flag and emblem of its own. It shall maintain the capitalist economic and trade systems previously practised in Hong Kong. The PRC declared that the basic policies regarding Hong Kong are as follows:
The Government of the United Kingdom will be responsible for the administration of Hong Kong with the object of maintaining and preserving its economic prosperity and social stability until 30 June 1997 and the Government of the PRC will give its cooperation in this connection.
Furthermore this declaration regulates the right of abode, those of passports and immigration. All Chinese nationals who were born or who have ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of seven years or more are qualified to obtain permanent identity cards. Those cardholders can also get a passport of the HKSAR, which is valid for all states and regions. But the entry into the HKSAR of persons from other parts of China shall continue to be regulated in accordance with the present practice.
This Annex is called the Elaboration by the government of the People's Republic of China of its basic policies regarding Hong Kong. It is partly mentioned in the summary above and deals in detail with the way Hong Kong will work after 1 July 1997. The annex consist of following sections: (1) Constitutional arrangements and government structure; (II) the laws; (III) the judicial system; (IV) the public service; (V) the financial system; (VI) the economic system and external economic relations; (VII) the monetary system, (VIII) shipping, (IX) civil aviation; (X) education; (XI) foreign affairs; (XII) defence, security and public order; (XIII) basic rights and freedoms; (XIV) right of abode, travel and immigration.
Annex II set up the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group. That Group came into force at 1 July 1988 and continued its work until 1 January 2000. Its functions were
This Group was an organ for liaison and not of power, where each side could send up to 20 supporting staff members. It should meet at least once in each of the three locations (Beijing, London and Hong Kong) in each year. From 1 July 1988 onwards it was based in Hong Kong. It should also assist the HKSAR to maintain and develop economic and cultural relations and conclude agreements on these matters with states, regions and relevant international organisations and could therefore set up specialist sub-groups. Between 1985 and 2000 the Joint Liaison Group held 47 plenary meetings whereof 18 were held in Hong Kong, 15 in London and 14 in Beijing.
One of the main achievements had been to ensure the continuity of the independent judiciary in Hong Kong, including agreements in the areas of law of Merchant Shipping, Civil Aviation, Nuclear Material, Whale Fisheries, Submarine Telegraph, Outer Space and many others. Furthermore it agreed to a network of bilateral agreements between Hong Kong and other countries. Within those agreements were reached on the continued application of about 200 international conventions to the HKSAR after June 30, 1997. Hong Kong should also continue to participate in various international organisations after the handover.
According to the Land Leases all leased lands, granted by the British Hong Kong Government, which extend beyond 30 June 1997 and all rights in relation to such leases shall continue to be recognised and protected under the law of the HKSAR for a period expiring not longer than 30 June 2047. Furthermore a Land Commission shall be established with equal number of officials from the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the PRC which was dissolved on 30 June 1997. This commission was established in 1985 and met in Hong Kong for 35 formal meetings and agreed on 26 legal documents, within the granting of the land required for the new airport at Chek Lap Kok in 1994 .
In this memorandum the Government of the United Kingdom declares that all persons in Hong Kong who hold British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTCs) will be ceased to be BDTCs with effect from 1 July 1997. They can only eligible to retain an appropriate statues (without the right of abode in the United Kingdom) if the British passport was issued before 1 July 1997.
“Under the National Law of the PRC, all Hong Kong Chinese compatriots, whether they are holders of the ‘British Dependent Territories Citizens’ Passport’ or not, are Chinese nationals.” Those people who use travel documents issued by the Government of the United Kingdom are permitted to use them for the purpose of travelling to other states and regions, but they will not be entitled to British consular protection in the HKSAR and other parts of the PRC.
The signing of the Joint Declaration by the Conservative Party government of Margaret Thatcher was a cause of controversy in Britain at the time: some were surprised that the right wing Prime Minister would agree to such an arrangement with the Communist government of China represented by Deng Xiaoping. But, as stated in the notes of The Hong Kong Baptist University: “The alternative to acceptance of the present agreement is to have no agreement.”[4] Some were surprised that Hong Kong residents were not given full UK citizenship. The Joint Declaration would also have to have been signed by HM Queen Elizabeth II and the President of China, Li Xiannian.
However, many commentaries pointed out that Britain was in an extremely weak negotiating position. Hong Kong was not militarily defensible and received most of its water and food supply from Guangdong province in mainland China. It was therefore considered economically infeasible to divide Hong Kong, with the UK retaining control for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon while returning the New Territories to the PRC in 1997, if no agreements could be reached by then. As mortgages for property in Hong Kong were typically fifteen years, without reaching an agreement on the future of Hong Kong in the early 1980s, it was feared that the property market would collapse, causing a collapse of the general economy in Hong Kong. Constraints in the land lease in the New Terrorities were also pressing problems at that time. In fact, while negotiation concerning the future of Hong Kong had started in the late 1970s, the final timing of the Declaration was related to the land and property factors.
Some commentaries pointed out that the UK government had no interest in granting full UK citizenship to Hong Kong Chinese residents. In fact, the UK government changed its nationality laws just a few years before the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration to ensure that Hong Kong Chinese residents would not get the right to live in the UK in future.
But on the other hand, Wu Bangguo, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress stated in a conference in Beijing 2007, that “Hong Kong had considerable autonomy only because the central government had chosen to authorize that autonomy”.[5]
After signing of the declaration, the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group was set up according to the Annex II of the declaration.
The transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong (referred to as the "return" or "handover" by the Chinese and British press respectively) occurred as scheduled on 1 July 1997. Since the return just a few things changed, such as the new flag of Hong Kong and the Prince of Wales building was renamed into the People’s Liberation Army building; the post boxes were repainted green, as it is the practice in China. But street names have remained unchanged and even the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has kept its “Royal” prefix, whereas the Hong Kong Jockey Club and other institutions have given up this expression.[6]
After the Asian financial crisis in 1997 the Hong Kong measures were taken with the full cooperation of the Chinese government in good cooperation. This did not mean that the Chinese government dictated what to do and therefore still follows the points of the declaration.[6]
In 1999 the government of the HKSAR asked China’s State Council to seek an interpretation of a provision in the Basic Law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee. The Chinese government said that a decision by Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal would allow 1.6 million mainland immigrants to enter Hong Kong. As a result the Chinese authorities obliged and the Hong Kong judgment was overturned.[7]
One year later, in 2000, after the election of pro-independence candidate Chen Shui-bian as Taiwan’s president, a senior mainland official in Hong Kong warned journalists not to report those Taiwan independence news. Another senior official advised businessmen not to do business with pro-independence Taiwanese.[7]
Due to various interpretations of the Basic Law, especially Article 23, a situation arose whereby many members of the public as well as legislators felt that the government was simply pushing its bill through without public support. This led to a turnout of over half a million people, the biggest of its kind since the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989. In reaction this led to the shelve of the bill.[7]
Ten years after the return, in 2007, the Guardian, a London newspaper, said, that "nothing has changed since the handover to China 10 years ago".[8]