Hong Kong--------More a statement than question.

[Lonnie]

I was reading a news thread, and it was stated that Hong Kong had to be given back, because it was leased.

I served out there, and learned its history at the same time, and my understanding, was that it didn't have to be given back, because it wasn't leased.

Please, anyone, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think so.

Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the Kowloon Penninsula, and its outlying islands, belonged to Britain by right of conquest, (Opium Wars), and it was Only the New Territories that was leased.

Hong Kong went back at the same time as the New Territories, because it was indefensible, China is too big and strong, and also, the Island itself, has virtually no fresh water.

If there's anyone who thinks thats wrong, please say so.

[ugly_bob]

I think you're correct there. The actual island of Hong Kong was British, but there was part of it on the Chinese mainland that was leased. It would have proved impossible to maintian Hong Kong without the mainland area, so it was given back to China when the lease expired.

[kempie]

In the 1980s, with the lease on the New Territories running out, the British government of Margaret Thatcher decided to negotiate the question of the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Although the British would have been legally required to transfer only the New Territories to the People's Republic of China, Whitehall decided that maintaining a rump colony would not be worthwhile - the majority of Hong Kong's land was in the New Territories, and failure to return the entire colony would doubtless have generated political friction between the UK and PRC.

Pursuant to an agreement known as the Sino-British Joint Declaration*, signed by the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom on 19 December 1984, the whole territory of Hong Kong under British colonial rule became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC on 1 July 1997.


*In accordance with the "One Country, Two Systems" Principle agreed between the UK and the PRC, the socialism system of PRC shall not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life shall remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. The Joint Declaration provides that these basic policies shall be stipulated in the Hong Kong Basic Law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong

[pollotim]

Hong Kong island and the peninsula was actually seeded to the UK in perpetuity for trade purposes, as it was heavily used as a deep water port. Overtime more land was sought, it was here that the leasing began for the new territories for 100 years to end in 1997 - Maggie in 1984 signed agreements to return the entire colony, but actually there was no legal requirement to return the island and peninsula - but it would not have been very fair or practical to retain (no natural resources to speak of!)

[jno]

that's correct Lonnie - my other post was kind of abbreviated. The UK didn't think they could run just HK island, and anyway may not have seen much point in doing so as the airport and major port facilities were in the New Territories. It would have probably meant millions of people trying to move from the territories to the island as well.

[Lonnie]

Thanks jno, your right, it was your post that prompted this thread, and I wanted to see if my understanding of the HK situation was right.