4
a great deal of interest for academics. There is much about them
that is unprecedented even in the long annals of British
diplomatic history. Apart from being very long and drawn out,
they have involved British acceptance of the vague and untested
Communist Chinese formula of "one country two systems" as a basis
for a legal commitment to uphold in the future" a high degree of
autonomy" for a former colony under the authority of a
Communist regime which has an unenviable record of continually
violating its constitutional norms. Although the contrast in the
negotiating styles of Britain and China has attracted some
attention, little has been devoted to the extraordinary
implications of the Joint Declaration signed between the two
sides in 1984. The two parties agreed in effect that in
consultation with China, Britain would have exclusive
responsibility in preparing Hong Kong for autonomy, while the
Chinese side would prepare a constitutional document to take
effect from the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July 1997. Although
it was understood that each side would take into account the
views of people in Hong Kong, at Chinese insistence, Hong Kong
representation was specifically excluded from the negotiating
process. Perhaps the most striking novelty of the negotiating
process was the undertaking of these two countries of such
different histories
histories and political systems to cooperate for
thirteen years about such delicate and uncertain matters as if
oblivious to the record of volatility of the Chinese Communist
regime and to the possibilities of radical change in the external
international environment.