Hong Kong negotiation

On September 24, 1982, Deng Xiaoping met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The two leaders discussed the future of Hong Kong in a friendly atmosphere, elaborating their positions on the issue. With a common purpose of maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, the two sides agreed to continue negotiations through diplomatic channels.

On September 30, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman declared that Hong Kong is part of Chinese territory and that the treaties ceding Hong Kong to Britain signed by the British and Qing governments were unequal. The spokesman reaffirmed the Chinese government position that it was determined to recover the entire territory of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong region consists of Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, which were successively ceded or leased to Britain after the Qing and British governments signed the Treaty of Nanking, the Treaty of Peking, and the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory between 1842 and 1898.