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of the wording in the agreed final document has turned out to be
somewhat embarrassing to the Chinese even though the general
structure of the Joint Declaration reflects their original
negotiating position. Thus China's spokesmen hardly ever refer
to the commitment to retain "unchanged" the "life-style" of Hong
Kong, but they repeatedly proclaim the necessity of upholding
"stability and prosperity". Similarly, since the differences
about Tiananmen negotiations in the Joint Liaison Group have made
little or no progress. A whole series of technical, but important
matters are being held-up without decision and, already, there
is a sense on the British side that the accumulating stock pile
is so great that once the obstacle is cleared decisions will have
to be made under great pressure because of the shortage of time.
Conclusions
Having drawn attention to some important problems inherent
in the Sino-British negotiations it may be helpful to summarise
by looking ahead to what may be seen as the principal
difficulties that lie ahead in the transition to July 1st 1997.
As suggested above, the talks have been dogged by distrust and
difficulties in the contrast between the negotiating styles of
the two sides and that is unlikely to change. The fact that the
negotiations in the remaining years of the transitionary period
will take place against a backcloth of the uncertainties of the
political succession to Deng Xiaoping and his generation amid
fears of the possible collapse of the Communist system will