ABSTRACT
The British colony of Hong Kong sits at the mouth of the Pearl River in the southern part of China, 144 kilometers from the great trading city of Guangzhou (Canton). Its three parts—Hong Kong Island and outlying islands, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories, which run up to the border with China—total less than 600 square kilometers, but are home to over 6 million people, 98 percent of whom are ethnic Chinese (mostly Cantonese). Hong Kong, the world’s tenth largest trading entity (U.S.$274 billion in total merchandise trade in 1993), is a free port, a thriving entrepôt of the China trade, and a major international financial center. Annual real growth rates run between 5 and 6 percent; with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita that exceeds U.S.$20,000, Hong Kong ranks among the ten wealthiest countries in the world. The territory will revert to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. As a colony, Hong Kong is not party to any multi- or bilateral security pacts.
