Chairman of the Central Military Commission Deng
Xiaoping meets British Prime Minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher in
Beijing in 1984.
In 1840 Britain launched the Opium War against
China, and in 1842 it forced the Qing government to sign the Treaty
of Nanjing, according to which Hong Kong Island was permanently
ceded to Britain. In 1856 the Anglo-French forces launched the
second Opium War, and in 1860 Britain forced the Qing government to
conclude the Convention of Beijing, under which the tip of the
Kowloon Peninsula was likewise permanently ceded to Britain. Taking
advantage of moves by other powers to stake out spheres of
influence in China, in 1898 Britain once again forced the Qing
government to sign a treaty, the Convention for the Extension of
Hong Kong.
Under this convention Britain was granted a 99-year
lease on a large stretch of land on the Kowloon Peninsula and more
than 200 surrounding islets (referred to as the "New Territories"),
a lease that is due to expire on June 30, 1997. The Chinese people
have always been opposed to the three unequal treaties.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of
China, the consistent position of the Chinese government has been
that Hong Kong is part of China's territory. It does not recognize
the three unequal treaties imposed on China by the imperialist
power and has always held that the question of Hong Kong should be
settled through negotiation when conditions were ripe and that
until that time the status quo should be maintained.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC
Central Committee, held in December 1978, the Chinese people began
to work on the three major tasks of realizing socialist
modernization, achieving the reunification of the motherland, and
opposing hegemonism and safeguarding world peace. Deng Xiaoping
proposed that the Taiwan and Hong Kong questions be resolved in
accordance with the concept of "one country, two systems".
Meanwhile, as the year 1997 drew nearer, Britain kept exploring
China's position on the Hong Kong question. Under these
circumstances, the conditions for settling the question were
ripe.
The talks held by the Chinese and British
governments for this purpose were divided into two stages. In the
first stage, between September 1982, when British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher visited China, and June 1983, the talks centred
on overall principles and procedures. In the second stage, between
July 1983 and September 1984, delegations of the two governments
held 22 rounds of talks on specific substantive issues.
On September 24, 1982, Deng Xiaoping met with Mrs.
Thatcher. The Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang had already talked with
her earlier. On that occasion the Premier had officially notified
Britain that the Chinese government had decided to recover the
entire Hong Kong area in 1997. At the same time, he had explained
that after that China would apply special policies towards Hong
Kong. For example, a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region would
be established, Hong Kong would be administered by its local
Chinese people and its current social and economic systems and way
of life would remain unchanged. However, Mrs. Thatcher had insisted
that the three unequal treaties should still hold good, saying that
if China agreed to Britain's continued administration of Hong Kong
after 1997, Britain would take China's claim to sovereignty over
the territory into consideration.
It was in response to these remarks that Deng
Xiaoping had an important talk with Mrs. Thatcher. Thanks to this
talk, the two sides agreed to hold negotiations on the settlement
of the Hong Kong question through diplomatic channels. During the
next six months, because the British side stuck to its position on
the question of sovereignty over Hong Kong, there was no progress
in the negotiations. However, in March 1983 Mrs. Thatcher wrote to
the Chinese Premier promising that at a certain stage she would
propose to the British Parliament that sovereignty over all of Hong
Kong be returned to China. She also expressed the hope that the two
sides would hold substantive talks at the earliest possible date.
In April the Chinese Premier wrote her back, saying that the
Chinese government agreed to hold formal talks as soon as
possible.
