【明報專訊】On 24 September 1982, then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (時任英國首相戴卓爾夫人), having met with the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (中國領導人鄧小平) on Hong Kong's future, tripped and fell to the ground on her way out of the Great Hall of the People (人民大會堂) in Beijing (right). The incident turned out to be strangely prophetic (預言般的) of her setbacks in the Hong Kong talks.

The background

Defeated in the two Opium Wars (鴉片戰爭) in the 19th century, the Qing government (清政府) was forced to sign a number of unequal treaties (不平等條約). By the Treaty of Nanking (《南京條約》), signed on 29 August 1842, it ceded (割讓) Hong Kong Island to the United Kingdom. Under the Convention of Peking (《北京條約》) signed in 1860, the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula became a part of the colony. In 1898 the British government took out a 99-year lease on the New Territories.

The question of Hong Kong's future became increasingly urgent as the expiry of the NT lease drew near. In 1979 Murray MacLehose (麥理浩), who was then Governor of Hong Kong (港督), went to Beijing to remind Deng Xiaoping of the need for the two countries to discuss the question of Hong Kong's future. That paved the way for Margaret Thatcher's visit to China in 1982.

The visit

Fresh from her victory in the Falklands War (福克蘭戰爭), Thatcher was determined to gain an upper hand at the negotiating table. She thought that both the Treaty of Nanking and the Convention of Peking were legally binding documents and that her bottom line should be for the UK to continue to rule Hong Kong with its acknowledgement of China's sovereignty (主權) over the territory.

Thatcher arrived in Beijing on 22 September 1982. She met Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽), who was then Chinese Premier. They discussed some world affairs. The next day the two met again and talked about Hong Kong's future. Thatcher insisted that Britain should continue to rule Hong Kong if it was to remain prosperous (繁榮). Zhao responded that China could make Hong Kong prosper, adding that, if China had to choose between its sovereignty over Hong Kong and the city's prosperity, it would opt for the former.

Thatcher met Deng on September 24. Regarding all the treaties concerned as invalid, Deng stressed that China would take Hong Kong back in 1997, adding that it would have a system different from the mainland's.

Reportedly taken aback by Deng's toughness, Thatcher fell to the ground when she emerged from her meeting with Deng.

The consequences

Obviously, Thatcher's Beijing visit didn't lead the two countries to any agreement, so they had to continue their negotiations. Finally the British government understood that it had no choice but to give Hong Kong up. On 19 December 1984 the two countries signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration (《中英聯合聲明》), agreeing that Hong Kong was to return to Chinese rule on 1 July 1997.

But things were far from settled. One of the thorny (棘手的) issues the British government had to decide was whether to give Hongkongers the right of abode (居留權) in Britain. Thatcher's refusal to do so disappointed many Hong Kong people and led to an exodus (移民潮).

On the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover, Thatcher said on the BBC the loss of Hong Kong had saddened her. She died of a stroke (中風) at 87 in 2013.