Sino-British Joint Statement on Hong Kong
The Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong ( Chinese 中 英 聯合 聲明 / 中 英 联合 声明 , Pinyin Zhōng-Yīng Liánhé Shēngmíng , English Sino-British Joint Declaration , , officially 中華人民共和國 政府 和 大不列顛 及 北愛爾蘭 聯合王國政府關於香港問題的聯合聲明 / 中华人民共和国政府和大不列颠及北爱尔兰联合王国政府关于香港问题的联合声明, Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Zhengfu hé Da Búlièdiàn jí at Ài'ěrlán Lianhe Wangguo Zhengfu GuanYu Xiānggǎng Wenti de Lianhe Shengming , English Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong , ) was issued by the Prime Ministers of the People's Republic of China , Zhao Ziyang , and the United Kingdom , Margaret Thatcher , signed in Beijing on December 19, 1984 . The Joint Declaration made sure that this political approach contract in Hong Kong (Basic Law English Basic Law of Hong Kong has been) committed.
history
After the First Opium War , the Chinese Empire had to cede the island of Hong Kong ( Hong Kong Island ) as a lease area to Great Britain in the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 . After the Second Opium War, Hong Kong was completely ceded to Great Britain in the Treaty of Tianjin in 1860 and expanded to include Stonecutters Island and a small strip of mainland (now the area of Kowloons south of Boundary Street ). In 1898, in the Convention on the Extension of the Hong Kong Territory , Great Britain forced China to surrender the so-called New Territories . The New Territories were not annexed, only leased for 99 years. At that time, however, in view of the great weakness of China, hardly any contemporary expected that they would ever be returned. The Joint Declaration made sure that this political approach contract in the Basic Law of Hong Kong ( English Basic Law of Hong Kong has been) committed.
As the end of the lease gradually came into view, negotiations between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China began in the 1970s. Under constitutional law, Britain would only have been obliged to return the New Territories; However, a crown colony that only existed from Hong Kong and "South Kowloon" ( Kowloon south of Boundary Street ) did not appear to be a realistic political option without the hinterland of the New Territories and would have meant a permanent source of conflict with the People's Republic, which was claiming Hong Kong. Therefore, both sides agreed on the complete return of all British possessions (Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories) when the lease contract expired in 1997. Since the People's Republic of China under Deng Xiaoping was also interested in stable conditions and a continued prosperous economy in Hong Kong, did they made political concessions by promising the continued existence of the previous capitalist economic conditions as well as a large degree of autonomy with limited self-administration of Hong Kong even after the transfer to China.
All of this was recorded in a joint declaration. The Declaration entered into force on May 27, 1985 with the delivery of the ratification documents and was registered with the United Nations on June 12, 1985 by the governments of the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom.
In the statement, the Chinese government announced that it would regain control of the sovereignty of Hong Kong ( Hong Kong Island , Kowloon , New Territories ) with effect from July 1, 1997, and the British government simultaneously declared the surrender of Hong Kong to the People's Republic China with effect from July 1, 1997. The People's Republic assured that Hong Kong would retain a liberal capitalist economic system for another fifty years after the transfer, in accordance with the principle of “ one country, two systems ” and that it would form a special administrative zone during this period.
