At this point my official dealings with Peking
strains of
drew to an end. Though I did not know it at the time, we were
also coming to the end of an era, which might be called that
of Sino-British cooperation over Hong Kong. We were about
to move into a new phase, where the
accommodation, the impatience with Chinese intransigence
and a greater assertiveness on the part of Hong Kong were
all to erupt in a policy of effective, if not altogether
intended, confrontation.
J
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