“The Hong Kong people have been betrayed by China,” and the west should stop kowtowing to Beijing for an illusory “great pot of gold”, Patten was quoted as saying in the Times. Patten watched as the British flag was lowered over Hong Kong when the colony was handed back to China in 1997 after more than 150 years of British rule.
Hong Kong’s autonomy was guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” principle enshrined in the 1984 joint declaration signed by the Chinese premier at the time, Zhao Ziyang, and the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
