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Kong smoothly from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.It was
under these terms that the now famous exchange of letters took
place between the British and Chinese foreign ministers in
January and February 1990 about amending the Basic Law before it
was enacted by the National People's Congress in April 1990.
I
у
By this stage, however, the events of Tiananmen had soured
relations and sapped confidence in Hong Kong. Britain was one of
the Western countries that applied sanctions and it also
postponed the next scheduled meeting of the JLG. Despite his
professed desire for convergence Governor Wilson in keeping with
the feelings of the people in the territory
condemned the
Beijing killings and
and sought to re-establish
confidence in the territory in several ways including encouraging
1- Heure London to extend the right of abode to significantly more Hong
Kong British passport holders; by introducing a bill of rights;
and by developing the huge new airport project that had already
been recognized as necessary for Hong Kong's long term viability.
The Chinese side was angered by these developments as it claimed
that its actions in Tiananmen were a necessary reaction against
counter-revolutionaries aided and abetted by external forces,
some of whom were to be found in Hong Kong. It promptly added a
clause in the Basic Law against subversion. Although all the
British schemes to enhance confidence were denounced by the
Chinese side, most, such as the bill of rights and the offer of
passports to 50,000 personnel deemed important to the viability
of the territory could be carried out unilaterally. The big
exception was the airport project.