Yes, the joint declaration is a treaty. It was registered with the United Nations as a treaty. Both China and Britain treated it as a treaty. There's no question about that. China tried earlier to declare that this treaty was no longer valid, that once Hong Kong was returned there was no cause for it, but if you look at article 7 of the joint declaration, you see that it expressly says that both parties are obliged to carry out all of its terms until the 50 years have ended. There's no legal dispute as to that.
More importantly, I think, Canada, Britain and the United States and all of the countries [Technical difficulty—Editor] Hong Kong separately have been invited. Chinese officials went to your capitals and asked you to treat Hong Kong distinctly. So beyond the treaty, there's this kind of “partnership”, I call it, or arrangement that all of these countries would give Hong Kong special status, which has worked very much to China's advantage. Two-thirds of the companies on the Hong Kong stock exchange are mainland companies. The mainland has used this as a way to gain international investments and a way to make them. The reliance is very substantial—by Canada, by the United States and so on—so you have both a treaty and an invitation to rely on the commitments in the joint declaration and the basic law.