Australia–Hong Kong relations are distinct to Australia-China relations.

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

has the status of a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and maintains its own

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

including those with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, as it is empowered to do under the

Hong Kong Basic Law The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ...

. Australia supports the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and in accordance with China's policy of observing "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The constitutional principle was formulated in the early ...

". On the other hand, mainland China has stated that Hong Kong is within China's internal affairs. Australia has extensive and enduring economic interests in Hong Kong. Australia has a Consulate-General in Hong Kong, located on the 23rd floor of (海港中心) in

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to th ...

. Hong Kong maintains a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, located in

Hong Kong House Hong Kong House, also known since 1995 as the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Sydney, is a landmark heritage building and former hotel in the Sydney central business district, City of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Built in 1891 to a de ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Both Australia and Hong Kong were former British colonies and Australia has strong ties with Hong Kong.

History

The first interaction between Australians and southern Chinese was during the

Australian gold rushes During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of Ne ...

in the 1850s, with

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

being the point of departure for immigrants from southern China. White migration within the

British empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

continued along the sea lines of communication between Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia/New Zealand. After federation of Australia in 1901, Australia adopted the White Australia policy and passed the ''

Immigration Restriction Act 1901 The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was an Act of the Parliament of Australia which limited immigration to Australia and formed the basis of the White Australia policy which sought to exclude all non-Europeans from Australia. The law granted i ...

'' which limited non-white immigration (including Eurasians) to Australia. Ethnic Chinese immigration resumed slowly as the White Australia policy was wound back during the 1950s and 1960s. Australians have filled senior and mid-level posts in tertiary institutions and the Hong Kong government.

HKU The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fir ...

physiologist Lindsay Ride of Newstead, Victoria, established and commanded the British Army Aid Group during the Second World War. Philip Haddon-Cave of Hobart, Tasmania continued the Hong Kong government policy of positive non-intervention during his tenure as Hong Kong Financial Secretary.

Bilateral agreements

Articles 151, 153 and 155 of

permits Hong Kong to conclude non-military bilateral agreements with foreign countries, while article 152 permits Hong Kong to join international organisations. Both Hong Kong and Australia are full members of

APEC The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

and FATF, (China has its own membership) and are bilateral participants on air services agreement (since 1993), Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (since October 1993) superseded by the Australia - Hong Kong Investment Agreement (2019), Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement (since 1999), Surrender of Fugitive Offenders Agreement (since June 1997), Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement (since 2006). Following the imposition by mainland China of a national security law upon Hong Kong, which Australia regards as being in breach of the

, on 7 July, the Australian government issued an official travel advisory warning travellers and Australian passport holders residing in Hong Kong, advising the latter group: “If you’re concerned about the new law, reconsider your need to remain in Hong Kong." On 9 July 2020, Australia suspended its extradition agreement with Hong Kong, which had been in place since 1993 and offered to extend visas by five years for Hong Kong residents currently in the country, and opening a pathway to permanent residency for up to 10,000 people working and studying in Australia.

Political relationships

Australia's policy toward Hong Kong is underpinned by its substantial commercial interests, and by the presence of a large Australian community living in Hong Kong. Article 82 of

permits Hong Kong to invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the Court of Final Appeal. The Hong Kong Government continues to hire and appoint Australians, with or without the right of abode in Hong Kong, to senior posts in the

Hong Kong Judiciary The Judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the judicial branch of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Under the Basic Law of Hong Kong, it exercises the judicial power of the Region and is independent of the exec ...

. Former Hong Kong Directors of Public Prosecutions,

Ian McWalters Ian Charles McWalters (; born 1951) is Chairman of the Market Misconduct Tribunal and the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal in Hong Kong. He is a retired judge and former prosecutor. Legal career McWalters graduated from the University o ...

and

Kevin Zervos Kevin Paul Zervos (; born November 1953) is a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of Hong Kong. He previously served as Director of Public Prosecutions of the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from Mar ...

, were appointed as High Court judges in 2011 and 2013 respectively, and both were subsequently elevated to the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in 2014 and 2018 respectively.

Sir Anthony Mason Sir Anthony Frank Mason HonFAIB DistFRSN (born 21 April 1925) is an Australian judge who served as the ninth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1987 to 1995. He was first appointed to the High Court of Australia, High Court in 1972, ...

, Murray Gleeson,

James Spigelman James Jacob Spigelman (born 1 January 1946) is a former Australian judge who served as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1998 to 2011. He was also Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales from 1998 to 2012. He served on the Court of Final App ...

, William Gummow and Robert French have been appointed to the Court of Final Appeal as Non-Permanent Judges from other common law jurisdictions. The Australian Consulate-General represents the Australian Government in Hong Kong. Some Australian states havetrade or business offices in Hong Kong, including Queensland and Victoria. Hong Kong is not permitted under the Basic Law to have diplomatic relations with other countries, but maintains the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Sydney, Australia.

Trade and investment

Australia's commercial interests in Hong Kong are extensive and range from banking, accounting, legal, engineering, information technology services and retail and general trading. Around 550 Australian companies are based in Hong Kong, and a further 1,000 Australian companies have representative offices.

Cultural

Some 90,000 Australians are resident in Hong Kong. According to the 2016 Census, 86 886 people of Hong Kong origin live in Australia, with 280 943

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

speakers in Australia, the largest number after

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

. The majority Hong Kong immigrants live in Sydney and Melbourne. Australia is one of the major English-speaking study destinations for students from Hong Kong due to monetary factors; while the Australian government is encouraging an enhanced two-way student mobility through the New Colombo Plan educational exchange.

Tourism

Both Australia and Hong Kong have offered " Working Holiday Programs" without quota restriction for maximum of 12-months since September 2001. The programme allows students to holiday in Hong Kong or Australia and to take temporary employment as needed to cover the expenses of their visit. The programme aims to increase travel by young people between Australia and Hong Kong and to strengthen the links between the two regions.

In popular culture

British satirical comedy '' The Day Today'' featured news coverage of a fictional trade agreement between Australia and Hong Kong. Host Chris Morris's impression of Jeremy Paxman's combative interview style swiftly led to the outbreak of war in Eastmanstown, on the "Australio-Hong Kong border".

References

; Citations ; Attributions * With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms and where otherwise noted, all material presented on this website is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence

External links

Australian Consulate-General Hong Kong
Official Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Australia-Hong Kong relations Australia–Hong Kong relations,

Hong Kong and the Commonwealth of Nations