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transition period and ensure a smooth transfer of sovereignty.
But it is also possible that as the territory developed an
autonomous political system an eventual conflict of interests
would have emerged because of the Chinese concern to exercise
control of a potentially troublesome region that could cast a
long shadow over China as a whole.
However it was the Tiananmen killings that intervened and
damaged what prospects there were for the development of
cooperative relations. It contributed to the politicisation of
the Hong Kong population against the Beijing regime. It made
enemies of the United Democrats and the Beijing leaders. It
brought to an end the attempt of Beijing's representative in
Xinhua from cultivating Hong Kongers through united front work.
Indeed the popular director, Xu Jiatun, took leave to a Buddhist
escape in the United States to be replaced by the decidedly
unpopular Zhou Nan. Meanwhile the British aroused Chinese ire by
seeking to establish confidence building measures because of a
destabilisation which the Chinese denied. Much as the Chinese
objected to the provision of 50,000 British Passports and to the
passage of a bill of rights, the one issue on which they were
able to establish control was the projected new airport and it
was used for Chinese political ends. This contributed to the
souring of the atmosphere and indeed to the decision by John
Major to replace Governor Wilson with a man of an altogether
different
background.
The Chinese side may be constrained in its behaviour towards
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