Hong Kong violence against protesters of the chinese extradition bill

[Madner Kami]

It is not fair to say that we gave it back. Unlike many of our colonies we never strictly speaking conquered Hong Kong, it was leased to us for 99 years as part of a treaty deal.

Um... You do know of the First Opium War? This "Trade Deal" was an "agreement" made at gunpoint, much like a robber and you agree to a "trade deal", where he gets your wallet and you get to live...

[clearspira]

It is not fair to say that we gave it back. Unlike many of our colonies we never strictly speaking conquered Hong Kong, it was leased to us for 99 years as part of a treaty deal.

Um... You do know of the First Opium War? This "Trade Deal" was an "agreement" made at gunpoint, much like a robber and you agree to a "trade deal", where he gets your wallet and you get to live...

They shouldn't have been trying to take our opium, we were using it to buy tea from India

Seriously though, I get your point.

[Karha of Honor]

If I remember, when the UK discussed the issue with the PRC, China was rather insistent on having the whole thing, with a Chinese representative pointedly noting that the People's Army could take it in an afternoon.

I am not doubting, but...

Source?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Title of this thread makes it sound like an action B movie.

[Darth Wedgius]

If I remember, when the UK discussed the issue with the PRC, China was rather insistent on having the whole thing, with a Chinese representative pointedly noting that the People's Army could take it in an afternoon.

I am not doubting, but...

Source?

No worries. I found Wikipedia backing:

However, the PRC took a contrary position: not only did the PRC wish for the New Territories, on lease until 1997, to be placed under the PRC's jurisdiction, it also refused to recognise the "unfair and unequal treaties" under which Hong Kong Island and Kowloon had been ceded to Britain in perpetuity.

In response, Deng Xiaoping cited clearly the lack of room for compromise on the question of sovereignty over Hong Kong; the PRC, as the successor of Qing dynasty and the Republic of China on the mainland, would recover the entirety of the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. China considered treaties about Hong Kong as unequal and ultimately refused to accept any outcome that would indicate permanent loss of sovereignty over Hong Kong's area, whatever wording the former treaties had.

Thatcher later said that Deng told her bluntly that China could easily take Hong Kong by force, stating that "I could walk in and take the whole lot this afternoon", to which she replied that "there is nothing I could do to stop you, but the eyes of the world would now know what China is like".