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SCMP

This article was first published on September 27, 1984
Historic pact ‘a sound basis for the future’
The governor, Edward Youde, gave his stamp of approval to the historic agreement between Britain and China, declaring it “a sound basis” for the future.
Youde told a hushed Legislative Council on Wednesday evening, September 26, 1984, the agreement meant that people could now “continue to plan their lives, work and raise their families in Hong Kong in peace and security with their rights and freedoms protected under the law.”
The uncertainty about 1997 had become a deterrent to confidence and progress.
“But now Hong Kong can move ahead once more,” he said.
“The agreement also ensures that its economic lifeblood can continue flowing with the same vigour in the future as it has in the past.”
Youde returned by a specially chartered plane after attending the initialling ceremony in Beijing to break the news about the future to an expectant Hong Kong.

The long-awaited white paper includes the joint Sino-British declaration with a 12-point plan which leaves Hong Kong’s system basically intact.
The 46-page document, which includes the joint declaration and three annexes, is legally binding in all its parts.
It states that Britain will continue to administer Hong Kong until June 30, 1997. On the next day, China will resume sovereignty and Hong Kong will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China “with a high degree of autonomy”.
The agreement also provides for the continuation of Hong Kong’s social, economic, legal and other systems for 50 years after 1997 and for a smooth transition to Hong Kong’s new status.
It contains a pledge that rights and freedoms such as speech, press, assembly, travel, the right to strike and the right to worship will be protected.
After sovereignty reverts to China, Hong Kong will come directly under the authority of the Central People’s Government and not under the authority of any provincial government.
The territory will then be known as “Hong Kong, China”.
It will be allowed to fly its own flag and emblem in addition to using the five-star Chinese flag and emblem.
The dollar will continue to circulate freely without exchange controls and China promises not to levy taxes on Hong Kong.
There were few surprises in the white paper for despite two years of secret negotiations, there have been innumerable press leaks.
However it reveals that solutions have been found to the three major stumbling blocks of nationality, land leases and aviation named by the Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, in August.

On nationality, the White Paper provides a new status for all 2.5 million British Dependent Territories Citizens (BDTC) and those who will become BDTCs up to June 30, 1997.
This will allow them to obtain British passports of a new type before this date and to continue to travel on them if they so wish.
But their new status will not include any right of abode in the United Kingdom, although it does entitle them to receive British consular services and protection in third countries.
Also their status will not apply to the holders’ children and will be dependent on parliamentary approval.
The governor pointed out that China had always regarded all Hong Kong Chinese as Chinese nationals.
But under British law many of them have been regarded as British nationals. “In such circumstances a solution was not easy,” he said.
This article was first published on September 27, 1984
Celebrations with a sparkle
By Garmen Chan
With a champagne toast, British and Chinese negotiators today celebrated the initialling of an agreement that will mark the end of British rule over Hong Kong in 1997.
The 25-minute ceremony, before a gathering of diplomats and reporters in the Great Hall of the People, also marked the end of year talks, which at one stage came close to breaking down.
Leaders of both delegations hailed the joint declaration as “a practical embodiment of the imaginative concept of ‘one country, two systems’”.
The chairman of the Chinese negotiating team, Zhou Nan, said the agreement would now go through legal procedures of the two sides and be formally signed in Beijing before the end of this year.
The leader of the British team Richard Evans, the British ambassador, describing the draft agreement as a historic document, added it would be signed “subject to the approval of the British parliament”.
The text of the joint declaration was initialled by Evans and Zhou.
In a dispatch, the New China News Agency said: “After two years of patient talks in the spirit of friendly co-operation and mutual understanding between the two sides, a satisfactory agreement was finally reached between the two sides on the Hong Kong question which was left over by history”.
Evans and Zhou said the satisfactory solution of the question of Hong Kong through peaceful negotiation had provided a firm basis for both countries to develop their mutual relations.
We owe our achievement first and foremost to the far-sighted decision of the Chinese and British leaders
Zhou Nan
We owe our achievement first and foremost to the far-sighted decision of the Chinese and British leaders
Describing the ceremony as a “solemn and important event,” Evans said it demonstrated that “peaceful negotiation is the best way to resolve problems left over from history”.
Zhou said the occasion is a “major event worth celebrating.
“We believe that the agreement fully conforms to the fundamental interests of the 1 billion Chinese people including our compatriots in Hong Kong and those of the British people, and will win their endorsement and support. We equally believe that it will be well received and approved by the people throughout the world.”
Zhou said the agreement had “satisfactorily solved” the question of sovereignty over Hong Kong according to the concept of “one country, two systems” and provides an effective guarantee for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity in the future.
“The settlement of the Hong Kong question will certainly help further consolidate and develop the existing Sino-British friendly ties on a new basis, and offers fresh experience for settling peacefully problems between states left over from the past.”
He continued: “We owe our achievement first and foremost to the far-sighted decision of the Chinese and British leaders. It was their personal attention and direct guidance that ensured the conclusion of the agreement.”

Evans said the preamble to the joint declaration states that the British and Chinese governments had reviewed “with satisfaction” the friendly relations between them.
And they had agreed that a proper negotiated settlement is conducive to the maintenance of prosperity and stability in Hong Kong, and to the further strengthening and development of relations between the two countries on a new basis.
Evans said the words in the preamble clearly bring out the great significance of the joint declaration: its significance in history, its significance for Hong Kong and its more than 5 million people, and its significance in the long history of relations between the United Kingdom and China.
Both Evans and Zhou paid tribute to the hard work of the staff involved in the two years of negotiations.
“They have worked hard and in a spirit of mutual accommodation to accomplish the common tasks of reaching agreement on the issues under discussion and of negotiating the terms of the joint declaration,” Evans said.
Zhou said the two sides owed their achievement first and foremost to what he called the far-sighted decisions of the British and Chinese leaders, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping.
“It was their personal attention and direct guidance that ensured the success of our talks and the conclusion of our agreement,” he added.
Meanwhile, speaking at a lunch he hosted for members of both delegations, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council, Ji Pengfei, described the occasion as a “great event” and the agreement as a “very good one”.
He said it solved the many questions left over for more than 100 years from history, and that it had been resolved by friendly co-operation.
Ji said it not only conformed to the fundamental interests of Hong Kong people but also to the people of Britain and China.
He added that the agreement would exert a great influence throughout the world.
He said credit should go to the hard work of the members of the two delegations who worked day and night on securing the agreement.
He praised the two governments for their great efforts and the spirit of friendly co-operation, mutual understanding and accommodation they had displayed in making the agreement possible in such a short time.
In his toast, Evans said he had driven 4,000 km in pursuit of the joint declaration.
This, he said, is roughly the distance of the Great Hall of the People to Hong Kong and then back.
The figure is only a small statistic of the efforts made by both sides to achieve the joint declaration.
He then proposed a toast to the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and the good relations of the two countries.


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From our archives

Historic joint declaration on Hong Kong’s future gets first signing – from SCMP archive

Richard Evans (left), the British ambassador to China, and Zhou Nan (right), chairman of the Chinese negotiating team, exchange documents at the initialling of the Sino-British draft agreement on September 26, 1984. Photo: P. Y. Tang

South China Morning Post’s front page on September 27, 1984.

Geoffrey Howe, the British foreign secretary at the time, at Hong Kong’s Government House on August 1, 1984. Photo: Chan Kiu

Edward Youde waves just before boarding the private jet for Beijing to take part in the initialling of the draft agreement on the Sino-British Joint Declaration on September 26, 1984. Photo: GIS

Typhoon York kills 2 people and injures hundreds in Hong Kong in 1999 – from SCMP archive

Sampans drift off Sai Kung Pier after being carried away by huge waves caused by Typhoon York on September 16, 1999. Photo: Dickson Lee

A couple sit at the waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui as the No 3 signal is raised over Hong Kong on September 15, 1999. Photo: Edward Wong

Yachts at Sai Kung run aground after being hit by strong winds and waves brought by Typhoon York on September 16, 1999. Photo: Dickson Lee

Hong Kong wins its second-ever Olympic medal at 2004 Athens Games – from the SCMP archive

Silver medalists Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching of Hong Kong wave from the podium after the medal ceremony for the men’s doubles table tennis at the Athens Olympic Games on August 21, 2004. Photo: Reuters

SCMP’s August 22, 2004 issue. 

Ko Lai-chak (right) and Li Ching (left) on their way to winning the silver medal in the men’s doubles table tennis at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games on August 21, 2004. Photo: Reuters 

China’s Ma Lin (bottom left) celebrates with Chen Qi (bottom right) after defeating Hong Kong’s Ko Lai-chak (top left) and Li Ching (top right) 4-2. Photo: AP

Hong Kong’s Ko Lai-chak (left) and Li Ching (right) show their silver medal. Photo: AP

Both teams on the podium in a show of sportsmanship. Photo: Reuters

Frontpage of SCMP’s August 22, 2004 issue. 

(Left to right) Li Ching’s parents He Siuqun and Li Yanhua with Ko Lai-chak’s parents Luo Yuyan and Gao Qun at the Chek Lap Kok airport on August 31, 2004. Photo: Robert Ng

Hundreds of supporters watching the Hong Kong Olympic delegation welcome home ceremony at the Cultural Centre. Photo: Robert Ng

Former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa greets the Athens Olympic table tennis silver medallists outside the Cultural Centre. Photo: Robert Ng

Table tennis fan Lam Kam-kwong showing off his bat autographed by Ko Lai-chak and Li Ching. Photo: Robert Ng

Hong Kong MTR’s Eastern Harbour Crossing opens in 1989 – from the SCMP archive

A train enters the new MTR cross harbour tunnel on the Kowloon side heading for Quarry Bay station. Photo: Sam Chan

South China Morning Post issue from August 5, 1989.

Landslip in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town kills 3 people in 1994 – from the SCMP archive

1994’s landslide at Kwun Lung Lau housing estate in Kennedy Town killed three people, including a 9-year-old girl and her father. Photo: Eric Li 

South China Morning Post issue from July 24, 1994.

2,000 families were forced to evacuate the housing estate. Photo: Eric Li 

Eighty-two landslides were reported across Hong Kong because of the torrential rain. Photo: Martin Chan

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Four decades ago, Britain and China initialled a draft of the joint declaration on Hong Kong’s future status


Four decades ago, Britain and China initialled a draft of the joint declaration on Hong Kong’s future status.


China-UK relations

Hong Kong politics

On This Day | Historic joint declaration on Hong Kong’s future gets first signing – from SCMP archive

Four decades ago, Britain and China initialled a draft of the joint declaration on Hong Kong’s future status

Historic pact ‘a sound basis for the future’