December 19 - Sino-British Joint Declaration

This Day in History: 19 December 2019

 

19 December 1984

 

35 years ago, today, Chinese Premier, Zhao Ziyang, and British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997. This was an agreement signed by Britain and China to settle the future of Hong Kong, and the two agreed that China would reassume control of Hong Kong, as it was under British occupation since the Opium War in 1840. Margaret Thatcher travelled to China in September 1982 to begin negotiations, and the talks continued for two years, and the declaration was signed in the Great Hall of People in Beijing on this day.

 

This declaration caused some controversy, as Thatcher's Conservative Party was agreeing with a Communist government, represented by Deng Xiaoping. In the White Paper that contained the Joint Declaration, it was declared by the government that "the alternative to acceptance of the present agreement is to have no agreement", meant as a refute to criticisms that the declaration was too biased towards China, and hinted at China's advantage during the negotiations. Many political analysts thought that there was a sense of urgency to make an agreement, as there were fears that without a treaty, the economy in Hong Kong would collapse, and there were also concerns about land ownership. The Joint Declaration was more affected by property and economic factors rather than geographic or political reasons.

 

Want to find out more about the details of the Declaration? Clickhere for more details.