The purpose of her visit to China was to rely on the strong strength shown by Britain in the Falklands War to take advantage of the situation to solve the Hong Kong issue, and it would be best to sign a new treaty of "renewing Hong Kong" with the Chinese government.

In September 1982, British Empire wins the Falkland War Thatcher , with a high-spirited mentality, flew to Beijing, China. The purpose of her visit to China was to rely on the strong strength shown by Britain in the Falklands War to take advantage of the situation to solve the Hong Kong issue, and it would be best to sign a new treaty of "renewing Hong Kong" with the Chinese government.

Mrs. Thatcher

However, with ambition, Mrs. Thatcher met her opponent in Great Hall of the People , which impressed her in this life - Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping . After two hours of negotiations, Mrs. Thatcher walked out of the door of the Great Hall of the People in uneasy.

Surprisingly, this tough-minded " Iron Lady " actually fell under the steps of the Great Hall of the People in a mess, which was a strange story for a while. So, how did Deng Xiaoping deal with Mrs. Thatcher?

The bad-comers Thatcher

In June 1982, the British-Ama War came to an end. The largest joint combat between sea, land and air after the Cold War ended with the unconditional surrender of the Argentine army. During the Valentine's War, the British nationalist sentiment was awakened, and the tough-minded Mrs. Thatcher was regarded by the British people as the "Iron Lady" "Iron Lady" . She became the most determined guardian of the glory of the British Empire.

Madame Thatcher

However, Madame Thatcher knows well that there is also a piece of British sphere of influence in East Asia facing challenges, that is, Xiang

Horse. Since 1842, Britain has successively transformed Hong Kong into its " leasing place " through the series of unequal treaties, namely " Nanjing Treaty ", " Beijing Treaty ", and " Expanding Hong Kong Territory Special Article ", with a lease period from 1898 to 1997 after 1999. At this time, it was only 15 years before the expiration of the "lease period" .

80s Hong Kong streets

Mrs. Thatcher believes that Hong Kong is the direct existence of British Far East interest and must not be easily abandoned. Moreover, she is ambitious that for the Chinese government, the resistance to taking back Hong Kong is extremely huge, including many factors such as politics, economy, and culture, so the UK is likely to continue to "renew Hong Kong" with the Chinese government.

80s Hong Kong

However, former British Prime Minister Edward Heath After visiting China in July 1982 to "explore" and said to Mrs. Thatcher with regret: We are afraid that is wrong . The Chinese government's determination to take back Hong Kong may not be shaken!

"Iron Lady" Mrs. Thatcher has overcome countless difficulties and obstacles along the way, so this did not dispel her idea of "renewing Hong Kong", but instead made her determined to go to China in person to negotiate. In this way, two months later, Mrs. Thatcher took the opportunity to Beijing, China and began her trip to China.

Mrs. Thatcher

Chinese and British tit-for-tat

Mrs. Thatcher, who arrived in Beijing, was grandly received by the Chinese government. On September 24, the Chinese and British leaders' talks were held in the conference room of , Fujian Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping shook hands with Mrs. Thatcher and had a brief greeting. Afterwards, both sides entered the formal issue.

, who is good at getting straight to the point, directly threw out the three treaties of , , signed by the Qing government and the British government, and firmly believed that these three treaties still have legal effect today. Finally, she added that according to the content of the treaty, as long as it is beneficial to Hong Kong's development, the UK will have the legitimate legality of "renewing Hong Kong".

Chinese and British leaders in negotiations

However, Deng Xiaoping was not interested in what Mrs. Thatcher called the "legal contract theory". He clearly pointed out that Hong Kong is the inherent territory of China . All unequal treaties signed by the UK and the Qing government that year were declared that they would not recognize them as early as when the founding of New China . Therefore, China's revocation of Hong Kong is a legitimate sovereign claim, and the issue of sovereignty is "not allowed to negotiate."

Deng Xiaoping's reasonable and well-founded rebuttal surprised Mrs. Thatcher. She did not expect that her carefully prepared "law theory" was fundamentally refuted by Deng Xiaoping - indeed, when the founding of New China in 1949, the Chinese government had already announced the abolition of all unequal treaties.

However, the Chinese government did not choose to take back Hong Kong immediately, which gave the British people the imagination space they thought they could "bargain". But it is reasonable to exercise sovereignty over Hong Kong from any perspective.

Deng Xiaoping and Mrs. Thatcher's negotiations

Seeing that the situation is not good, Mrs. Thatcher can only try to from another perspective "persuading" the Chinese government not to recycle Hong Kong: Hong Kong is now prosperous under British rule. If the Chinese government takes it back in the future, it is likely to make the current situation in Hong Kong turmoil. Therefore, Britain's rule over Hong Kong has existential significance.

However, Deng Xiaoping also used clever efforts to resolve Mrs. Thatcher's point of view. He said: Hong Kong can indeed continue to cooperate with the British authorities, but this is completely different from the fact that Hong Kong must be under the management of the British belongs to the same concepts as .

80s prosperity Hong Kong

At the same time, Deng Xiaoping added: In fact, if Hong Kong wants to truly have a foundation for prosperity in the future, it must be under the jurisdiction of China and the Chinese government will formulate appropriate policies. Otherwise, Hong Kong, which is not recognized by the Chinese government, is like a city built on quicksand without any foundation of existence.

Disheartened Mrs. Thatcher

Hearing Deng Xiaoping's serious tone, Mrs. Thatcher's face became darker and darker . During the two-hour negotiations, Mrs. Thatcher felt that the rhythm of the entire negotiations was always led by the sophisticated Deng Xiaoping. She, the "iron lady" who dominated the British politics, could not take any advantage in front of Deng Xiaoping.

Mrs. Thatcher

When the negotiations were over, Mrs. Thatcher completely deflated . She later wrote in her memoir:

"After the negotiations, there were very few consensuses reached between the two sides... I strongly feel that there are not many days left when the Great Britain flag is flying over Hong Kong."

After the leaders' talks, Mrs. Thatcher, who was in a complicated mood, walked out of the Great Hall of the People. Although she tried to squeeze out a skilled and confident smile to the reporters surrounded by the door, she obviously smiled unnaturally.

British Mrs. Thatcher

The next scene proves that the "Iron Lady" is already in her heart is in a mess -Mrs. Thatcher, who walked down the steps step by step, actually stepped on the air in the mess and fell to the ground. This embarrassing scene was captured by journalists from all over the world and was photographed one by one.

In the next two years, China and the UK conducted multiple rounds of difficult negotiations on the Hong Kong issue. Finally, in 1984, the two countries issued the " Sino-British Joint Statement" , confirming that Hong Kong would return to China in 1997. Only then can the Hong Kong issue truly come to an end.