Treaty for a Lost City

Book excerpt: "This book begins with the origins and negotiation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration then turns to the immediate aftermath following its signature on 19 December 1984 and entry into force on 27 May 1985. That aftermath was a period in which the colonial administration pushed actively for democratic reform, following the conclusion of the Sino- British Joint Declaration but before Hong Kong was handed over on 1 July 1997. I have endeavoured to let recently declassified files speak for themselves. The result is not always as focused as one might like. There is a higgledy-piggledy quality which is common in any protracted treaty negotiation. Plans had to change, new makeshift plans enacted, and adaptation became both frequent and necessary. In all this, China's negotiators might come across as certain and confident but this is only because, but for the occasional speaking role granted to them in the UK records, the files show little other than the gleaming splendour of the national emblem above the Zhongnanhai's South Gate. In stark contrast, doubt and frailty, even occasional bigotry at the rag end of colonialism, is laid bare in the files from the National Archives. My only defence is that I have not set out to flatter my reader. Today, it is also widely assumed that the Joint Declaration ensures by treaty the protection of democratic and fundamental rights. The Joint Declaration did not grant democratic rights. These had been carved-out on the UK side from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights during the period of colonial administration, and indeed even other fundamental rights the Joint Declaration spoke of in 1984 were but common law rights"--