Convention on the Extension of the Hong Kong Territory
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The Convention on the expansion of Hong Kong's territory , most generally as a Second Convention of Beijing ( Chinese 展拓香港界址專條 / 展拓香港界址专条 , Pinyin Zhǎntuò Xiānggǎng Jièzhǐ Zhuāntiáo , Jyutping Zin 2 tok 3 Hoeng 1 gong 2 Gaai 3 zi 2 Zyun 1 tiu 4 , english the Convention between Great Britain and China Respecting on extension of Hong Kong Territory , was known) an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Chinese Empire , which on June 9, 1898 in Beijing was signed. With the convention, the later so-called New Territories were leased to Great Britain for 99 years.
Historical background
After the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842, China had to cede Hong Kong as a lease area to Great Britain. The leased area covered the approximately 80 km² large island of Hong Kong ( 香港 島 / 香港 岛 , English Hong Kong Island ). From 1856 to 1860 the Second Opium War broke out between Great Britain and France on the one hand and China on the other. This war was also lost for China and in the Beijing Convention in 1860 the Empire had to cede a strip of land on the Kowloon Peninsula opposite the Hong Kong Island - today the portion of the " Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street " with the island of Stonecutters Island - to Great Britain . Hong Kong and the newly ceded areas were then no longer leased, but went completely into British ownership and were reorganized as a crown colony .
In the following decades, the foreign policy and military weakness of the Qing Empire was exploited by European colonial powers and the strengthened Japan . After the murder of two German missionaries in China, German marines occupied the Bay of Kiautschou on the Shandong coast in 1898 and in a contract dated March 6, 1898, China leased the bay to the German Empire for 99 years . Other European powers did not want to lag behind and forced further leases. On March 15th, Jul. / March 27, 1898 greg. was Port Arthur for 25 years at Russia leased, on July 1, 1898 Weihaiwei to Britain "as long as Port Arthur remains Russian" and on November 16, 1898 Guangzhouwan for 99 years in France . The British colonial administration of Hong Kong also saw the opportunity to round off the territory of the crown colony as a favorable one. Under British pressure, the Convention on the Extension of the Hong Kong Territory was concluded.
Content of the Convention
The text of the contract was kept relatively short and comprised only one and a half pages in the English version. The reason for the expansion of Hong Kong territory was the need for military defense and the protection of the colony. A map was attached to the agreement, on which the approximate boundaries of the newly leased territories were drawn, with the stipulation that a Sino-British commission should determine the exact course of the border. The border roughly corresponded to the course of the Shenzhen River ( 深圳 河 , Shēnzhèn Hé , Jyutping Sam 1 zan 3 Ho 4 , English Shenzhen River, outdated: Sham Chun River ). For the place designated in the contract as the “ City of Kowloon ” (meaning the Kowloon Walled City - in the handwritten Chinese version of the contract text, the Cantonese name Jiǔlóng Chéng 九龍 城 / 九龙 城 , Jyutping Gau 2 lung 4 Sing 4 , English Kowloon Walled City - "literally used Walled City of Kowloon") was stipulated that it should remain under Chinese jurisdiction as long as this was consistent with the military requirements for the defense of Hong Kong, while the newly leased territories should be completely under British jurisdiction. The protection of private property in the leased area was expressly emphasized and assurances were given that there would be no expropriations without adequate compensation. The lease also included the surrounding waters, whereby Chinese warships were expressly permitted to use these waters.
The convention was signed in Beijing on June 9, 1898. The agent for the United Kingdom was Claude Maxwell MacDonald . It came into force on July 1, 1898 (the 13th day of the 5th lunar month of the 24th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu ). The instruments of ratification were exchanged in London on August 8, 1898.
Further development
With the "lease" of the later so-called New Territories , the United Kingdom did not have to pay any lease fees. The lease was designed for 99 years, but with the sure expectation that the area would remain permanently in the British Empire . The limited lease period was primarily intended to help save face on the Chinese side of the contract by not openly talking about an assignment. In 1909, Hong Kong Governor Frederick Lugard proposed that the New Territories should be permanently ceded to Great Britain if the latter returned the Weihaiwei lease in return . In 1930 Weihaiwei was actually returned to China, but without any provisions regarding Hong Kong. The national Chinese government of the Kuomintang (from 1928) tried in negotiations with Great Britain to obtain the return of Hong Kong and the New Territories , especially since both countries were allied against Japan in World War II. Prime Minister Churchill made no commitments in this regard. After the defeat of the Kuomintang by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War on the mainland, the question of Hong Kong was initially not a high priority for the newly founded People's Republic of China.
Negotiations between Great Britain and the PRC on the future of Hong Kong took place in the 1970s. Formally, Great Britain could have continued to own Hong Kong (more precisely Hong Kong Island ) and the later added strip of land in what is now Kowloon south of " Boundary Street " (" Old Kowloon " 舊 九龍 / 旧 九龙 - "Old Kowloon") because these areas had been permanently ceded by China. Hong Kong without the hinterland in the New Territories , however, did not seem a realistic and politically viable option. On December 19, 1984, the joint Sino-British declaration was signed in Beijing, stating that the People's Republic of China would regain state sovereignty and control over the New Territories at the end of the expiry of the New Territories lease , ie July 1, 1997 , as well as Hong Kong Island and the entire Kowloon (" Old Kowloon " and " New Kowloon ") would take over, which then happened.
The original version of the contract is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei ( Taiwan ).
Web links
- Convention between the United Kingdom and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory ( 一 八九 八年 租 九龍 條約 原文 「英 展 拓 香港 界址 專 條」 (PDF file; 4.3 MB), digitized English and Chinese Contract text (handwritten), at the University of Hong Kong
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Convention between the United Kingdom and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory ( 一 八九 八年 租 九龍 條約 原文 「英 展 拓 香港 界址 專 條」 ), Chinese, English [1] (PDF file; 4.3MB) In: ebook.lib.hku.hk - Accessed December 1, 2018 - Online
- ↑ Stephen Vines: A lease no one thought would run out. The Independent, January 3, 1997, accessed December 1, 2018 .
- ^ Lessons of History. Accessed December 1, 2018 .