On September 22, 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher led a delegation to Beijing for a five-day official visit to Hong Kong. However, after the confrontation with Deng Xiaoping, Thatcher, who came full of ambition, had to return home with pity.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Margaret Thatcher left Beijing and arrived in Hong Kong, but still claimed that the three treaties on which Britain ruled Hong Kong were valid under international law and would never allow unilateral breaches. Although the talks between the Chinese and British summits have come to an end, the contest between Deng Xiaoping and Thatcher continues through the negotiating delegations of the two sides.
British negotiator Kelida
At that time, the British negotiator Collida recorded in her memoirs that after returning to London, Margaret Thatcher thought of all possible means, even the most extreme way of force, and summoned the Minister of Defence for this purpose, but after consideration, Thatcher decided to adopt a more moderate approach. In what way? That is, her think tank proposes to "exchange sovereignty for governance."
What is "sovereignty for governance"? That is to say, in 1997, Hong Kong was replaced by a five-star red flag, but it continued to lease the whole of Hong Kong to britain for 50 years or more, and the british continued to control it. Some Hong Kong newspapers described the practice as an honorary chairman of China, while the general manager continued to be held by the British. Of course, China will not agree to this plan! In the heated debate between the two sides, the time came to July 1983, and the increasingly anxious Britons could no longer sit still.
What are the British anxious about? It turned out that as early as Thatcher's visit to China, Deng Xiaoping had set a two-year negotiation period, after which the Hong Kong issue would not have been resolved peacefully. Hong Kong is close to the Chinese mainland, far from the British mainland, fresh water and other necessities are mainly supplied by the mainland, and the British side has no military defense possibility at all. At this time, the negotiations have been going on for 10 months, and the representatives of the two sides are still fighting at the negotiating table, and there is no progress. In the face of such a resolute attitude of the Chinese side, the slightly passive British side sent a new emissary!
Deng Xiaoping met with Heath
On September 10, 1983, Deng Xiaoping met with Heath at the Great Hall of the People. Edward Heath served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974. He had great enthusiasm and affection for China, and it was under his impetus that Britain and China successfully established diplomatic relations in 1972. Heath has visited China several times since leaving office in 1974, and every time he comes, he meets with Deng Xiaoping.
The two old friends exchanged a cordial greeting. When the topic turned to the Hong Kong issue, the atmosphere suddenly became particularly heavy. Deng Xiaoping was extremely dissatisfied with the British government's approach to the negotiations. He said: Sovereignty for rule is simply not feasible, please tell Margaret Thatcher that you must change your attitude, I will not give in on this issue, do not make the problem to the extreme!
In the face of the warning of "steel company" Deng Xiaoping not to make the problem to the extreme", how will the British side react?
Thatcher put it this way in her memoir, The Downing Street Years: Jeffrey. Howe and the Foreign Office want to go further. They strongly recommended that I should make early concessions in the talks, stating that Britain would no longer continue its rule in Hong Kong. I see no reason to make such concessions. I want to use every card we have in our hands that can be bargained for and make them work to the maximum. But the situation soon became clear that we had too few cards like this in our hands.
What happened to make the situation in Britain take a sharp turn for the worse, and Thatcher even had the last bit of illusion shattered? It turned out that on September 24, 1983, Hong Kong had a black Saturday stock market shock, the Hong Kong dollar depreciated sharply, prices began to soar, the people sold a large number of Hong Kong dollars to buy dollars, rushed to buy goods and materials, Hong Kong was in chaos, the public panicked for a long time.
Hong Kong stock market crash
It turned out that the sensitive Hong Kong media sniffed out the brief announcements issued by china and the United Kingdom. In September 1983, the third and fourth rounds of negotiations did not go well, so rumors spread in Hong Kong society, and some people said that the negotiations between the two sides had broken down. At that time, Sino-British negotiations became a barometer of Hong Kong's economy, and if it was well negotiated, the Hong Kong stock market would rise, and if it was not good, it would fall. So, at this time, the so-called "Black Saturday" appeared in the Hong Kong stock market. However, the Hong Kong stock market is volatile, how can it make the always tough Mrs. Thatcher bow her head? Because a further decline in the stock market will not only affect the collapse of the Hong Kong dollar, but also affect the status of the pound. In order to maintain the position of the pound, the British had to pegge the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar to the dollar, which stabilized the situation.
After this, the eighth round of negotiations began on 25 January 1984. This was a watershed for both China and britain, and on this day, the British no longer adhered to the negotiation policy of sovereignty for governance, and the negotiations began to revolve around the plan proposed by China, and the atmosphere of the negotiations eased somewhat. So, will the next negotiations go smoothly according to china's expectations?
Tomorrow, continue to decrypt for you: the troops stationed in Hong Kong, precious video ignites every Chinese!