Hong Kong–South Africa relations Cathay Pacific also began flights on the same route. Hong Kong, despite then being linked to the Commonwealth as a British colony, did not comply with its measures against South Africa. Instead, like Britain, it only imposed unilateral sanctions, banning the imports of Krugerrands, iron and steel until 1991. Following the end of apartheid in 1994, and the coming to power of the African National Congress, there were concerns regarding future ties between South Africa and Hong Kong, given that Britain was due to transfer sovereignty of the territory to China in 1997. As Hong Kong had been under British
British Hong Kong the Chinese, the Second Convention of Peking was signed on 9 June. Since the foreign powers had agreed by the late 19th century that it was no longer permissible to acquire outright sovereignty over any parcel of Chinese territory, and in keeping with the other territorial cessions China made to Russia, Germany and France that same year, the extension of Hong Kong took the form of a 99-year lease. The lease consisted of the rest of Kowloon south of the Shenzhen River and 230 islands, which became known as the New Territories. The British formally took possession on 16 April