"Nevertheless, it is true that on 1 July 1997 Hong Kong became the only example of decolonization deliberately accompanied by less democracy and a weaker protection of civil liberties. This was a cause for profound regret, especially for the departing colonial power. But it was China's doing and China's decision. I am pleased that Britain narrowly avoided complicity in the dishonourable act of denying the citizens of free Hong Kong what they had been promised in 1984."
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British EmpireFormer colonies in AsiaHong KongForeign relations of the United KingdomHistory of China
Original Language: English
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Sources
Chris Patten, East and West: The Last Governor of Hong Kong on Power, Freedom and the Future, Pan Books, second edition, 1999, p. 83
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/British_Hong_Kong
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British Hong Kong
1959 – 1997
British Hong Kong was a colony and dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a brief period under Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The colonial period began with the occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War. The island was ceded by Qing dynasty in the aftermath of the war in 1842 and established as a [[w:Crown
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