Sept
12
The airport issue was seemingly resolved in July 1991 when
Prime Minister John Major went to Beijing to sign the Memorandum
of Understanding as agreed during the secret visit of Sir Percy
Cradock a month earlier. The Chinese Premier had used the issue
to bring over his British equivalent as the first West European
leader to visit Beijing since Tiananmen. The British Prime
Minister, reportedly was unhappy at being so used and was
dissatisfied with way human rights issues affecting China had
been addressed. This apparently, was the origins of the decision
to change the character of the governor and appoint a leading
politician who would be more attuned to the political interests
of the Prime Minister and who would assume greater responsibility
in leading the negotiations with the Chinese.
The Chinese Interests in Hong Kong
With less than five years to go before the transfer of
sovereignty to China the stakes for each side are enormous.
we have seen, Britain has something to gain if things were to go
well and much to lose if they were
to lose if they were to go badly. But from a
Chinese perspective the importance of Hong Kong has continued to
grow until it has reached the point of being a major factor in
determining the success or failure of many of the policies
associated with Deng Xiaoping. A dramatic collapse of Hong Kong
would undermine the prospects for peaceful re-unification with
Taiwan; it would do untold damage to the efforts of modern