Consular missions in Hong Kong Embassies in Beijing, such as those of the following countries: When Hong Kong was under British rule, the Governor represented the British government, as well as the British monarch as head of state. Matters relating to British nationality were handled by the Hong Kong Immigration Department. However, the United Kingdom's commercial interests were represented by the British Trade Commission. The last Senior Trade Commissioner, Francis Cornish, became the first British Consul-General following the transfer of sovereignty to China, on July 1, 1997. During the negotiations between Britain and China on the future of Hong Kong, the British proposed the establishment
Young Plan (Hong Kong) 1980s during the Sino-British negotiations on Hong Kong's sovereignty. The demand and attempts for constitutional reform in Hong Kong had occurred from time to time, but it had been an intractable problem for the Colonial Government due to the overwhelmingly majority of the Chinese population. Until during the Second World War when Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation, the collapse of the British imperial power in East Asia in the face of Japanese onslaught and also the emergence of a demand form the Chinese Nationalist Government under Chiang Kai-shek for the retrocession of Hong Kong during the war, forced the