page_title: Foreign relations of Hong Kong
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Foreign relations of Hong Kong / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), also known as the R.S. Hitt House, located at 1520 18th Street, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Georgian Revival building was designed by local architect Jules Henri de Sibour. Construction of the home was completed in 1914 at a cost of $77,000. It has served as the Washington, D.C. HKETO since the 1990s. Notable past owners of the building include Robert Stockwell Reynolds Hitt (ambassador; member of the Hitt political family), Ogden L. Mills (residence while serving as U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury), Dwight F. Davis (residence while serving as U.S. Secretary of War), Walter Evans Edge (residence while serving in the U.S. Senate), Bernard Baruch (residence while serving as adviser to Franklin D. Roosevelt), the Structural Clay Products Institute (headquarters during the 1950s–1960s), and the government of Saudi Arabia (Embassy of Saudi Arabia during the 1970s–1980s). The 40-room, five-story building is a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District. Its 2009 property value is $5,691,210.
context_page_description: Under the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is exclusively in charge of its internal affairs and external relations, whilst the Government of the People's Republic of China is responsible for its foreign affairs and defence. As a separate customs territory, Hong Kong maintains and develops relations with foreign states and regions, and plays an active role in such international organisations as World Trade Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in its own right under the name of Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong participates in 16 projects of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
context_section_description: Hong Kong was under British rule before 1 July 1997. Prior to the implementation of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Act 1996 enacted by the British Parliament, Hong Kong represented its interests abroad through the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs) and via a special office in the British Embassies or High Commissions, but the latter ceased after the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the PRC and became a special administrative region (SAR) of the PRC in 1997. At present, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices under the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in countries that are the major trading partners of Hong Kong, including Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, the European Union as well as an ETO in Geneva to represent HKSAR Government in the WTO. These offices serve as the official representative of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR in these countries and international organisations. Its major functions include facilitating trade negotiations and handling trade related matters, inter-government relations with foreign governments; the promoting of investment in Hong Kong; and liaising with the media and business community.  The Hong Kong Government has also set up the Hong Kong Tourism Board with offices in other countries and regions to promote tourism.
  The Hong Kong SAR Government also has an office in Beijing, and three HKETOs at Guangzhou (Guangdong ETO), Shanghai and Chengdu. An HKETO will be set up at Wuhan in the future. The Central People's Government of the PRC also maintains a liaison office in Hong Kong. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a representative office in Hong Kong.
  Hong Kong makes strenuous law enforcement efforts, but faces serious challenges in controlling transit of heroin and methamphetamine to regional and world markets; modern banking systems that provide a conduit for money laundering; rising indigenous use of synthetic drugs, especially among young people.
  Hong Kong has its own immigration policy and administration. Permanent residents of Hong Kong with PRC nationality hold a different type of passport, called the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Passport, which is different from that for PRC citizens in Mainland China. Hong Kong permanent residents and mainland Chinese need a passport-like document (the "Home Return Permit" for Hong Kong permanent residents and the Two-way Permit for Mainland Chinese) to cross the Sino-Hong Kong border. Visitors from other countries and regions not participating in waiver programme are required to apply for visas directly to the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
caption: Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the Dupont Circle neighbourhood of Washington, D.C.
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