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    The Question of Sovereignty: A Study of Chinese and British Negotiating Positions with Regard to the Colonisation and Decolonisation of Hong Kong
    The Question of Sovereignty: A Study of Chinese and British Negotiating Positions with Regard to the Colonisation and Decolonisation of Hong Kong
    The Question of Sovereignty: A Study of Chinese and British Negotiating Positions with Regard to the Colonisation and Decolonisation of Hong Kong
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    The Question of Sovereignty: A Study of Chinese and British Negotiating Positions with Regard to the Colonisation and Decolonisation of Hong Kong

    By Justin Cahill

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    This is a study of the collision of Britain's 'imperialism of free trade' with China's sovereignty over Hong Kong from the time of the Colony's occupation in 1842 to the signing of the Joint Declaration in 1984. It examines the influences at work on successive British governments in seeking, expanding and, ultimately, returning the Colony to China. It also examines the influence of the Chinese concept of its national sovereignty on the development of the framework of its demands for Hong Kong's return, including the 'unequal treaties' principal and the 'one country, two systems' proposal.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJustin Cahill
    Release dateApr 8, 2014
    ISBN9781310609398
    The Question of Sovereignty: A Study of Chinese and British Negotiating Positions with Regard to the Colonisation and Decolonisation of Hong Kong
    Author

    Justin Cahill

    Welcome to my Smashwords profile.I am a New Zealand-born writer, based in Sydney. My main interests are nature and history.My thesis was on the negotiations between the British and Chinese governments over the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. It was used as a source in Dr John Wong’s Deadly Dreams: Opium, Imperialism and the Arrow War (1856-1860) in China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998, the standard work on that conflict.I wrote a column on the natural history of the Wolli Creek Valley for the Earlwood News (sadly, now defunct) between 1992 and 1998.My short biography of the leading Australian ornithologist, Alfred North (1855-1917), was published in 1998.I write regular reviews on books about history for my blog,’ Justin Cahill Reviews’ and Booktopia. I’m also a regular contributor to the Sydney Morning Herald's 'Heckler' column.My current projects include completing the first history of European settlement in Australia and New Zealand told from the perspective of ordinary people and a study of the extinction of Sydney’s native birds.After much thought, I decided to make my work available on Smashwords. Australia and New Zealand both have reasonably healthy print publishing industries. But, like it or not, the future lies with digital publishing.So I’m grateful to Mark Coker for having the vision to establish Smashwords and for the opportunity to distribute my work on it.

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      Book preview

      The Question of Sovereignty - Justin Cahill

      The Question of Sovereignty

      A study of Chinese and British negotiating positions with regard to the colonisation and decolonisation of Hong Kong.

      Justin Cahill

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2014 Justin Cahill

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      Discover other titles by Justin Cahill at Smashwords.com

      Please direct all inquiries to Justin Cahill at

      PO Box 108, Lindfield, 2070

      New South Wales, Australia

      or e-mail to mailto:jpjc@ozemail.com.au

      To Professor John Wong,

      on the 40th anniversary of his arrival

      at the University of Sydney

      "I will proceed with my history, telling my story as I go along of small cities no less than of great. For most of those which were great once are small today and those which used to be small were great in my own time. Knowing, therefore, that human prosperity never abides long in the same place, I shall pay attention to both alike." – Herodotus, The Histories, I:7

      Cover: The cartoon on the cover, entitled ‘China: the cake of Kings and ... of Emperors’, was first published in the supplement to Le Petit Journal on 16 January 1898, p.8. It shows, from left to right, Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Tsar Nicholas II, Marianne (representing France) and Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan, carving up China between them.

      oOo

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Preface

      Forward by Professor John Wong, University of Sydney

      Acknowledgments

      Romanisation

      Note on primary sources

      Introduction

      I. Imperialism

      II. National Sovereignty

      III. Towards Decolonisation

      IV. The Joint Declaration

      Conclusion

      Bibliography

      oOo

      PREFACE

      An undergraduate thesis is not supposed to see the light of day. Professor Harold Laski counselled Joseph Kennedy against publishing his son’s. Other students, Laski warned, ...don’t publish them for the good reason that their importance lies solely in what they get out of doing them and not in what they have to say. Kennedy did not agree. John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s thesis, published as While England Slept in 1940, became a best-seller. He remained proud of his work, even after he became President.

      While conscious of its flaws, I remain proud of my thesis. It was written in 1995, two years before the final act in the events it examined, the return of Hong Kong to China. It was my first piece of original research based on unpublished primary sources. It was also my first opportunity to examine, at length, the clash of world powers and the fate of empires, with Britain bringing its might to bear against a tottering Imperial China - only for the process to reverse itself a century later.

      My work was patiently supervised by Dr John Wong, then deeply engaged in his own work on the Arrow War, later published as Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War (1856-1860). I took Dr Wong’s course ‘China and the World’ in 1994. During the course, I read his The Origins of an Heroic Image: Sun Yatsen in London. I was impressed with his willingness to challenge orthodox interpretations of Chinese history and enthusiasm for field-work: which included, while writing his work on Sun Yatsen, pacing out the walking time between the Chinese Legation and the residence of its English Secretary, Sir Halliday Macartney, in London. These qualities led me to ask Dr Wong to be my supervisor. I still remember the day he took several of us to Fisher Library to show us the microfilms of Foreign Office correspondence – it was my first introduction the raw material of history.

      Dr Wong was a firm believer in leading by example. He would read out parts of his draft of Deadly Dreams and the comments he received on it from eminent colleagues to encourage us to greater efforts. When Dr Wong says in his preface that the structure of his Deadly Dreams "…continued to be erected, demolished, and rebuilt [as] chapters were drafted, taken apart, and re-written", he really meant it. I recall one supervision meeting when he informed us he had, like Archimedes, had a sudden insight while in the bath that morning that led to major amendments. He also kindly introduced us to leading protagonists in events in Hong Kong, including Martin Lee, QC, then a member of the Colony’s Legislative Council and de facto leader of the Colony’s pro-democracy movement.

      The mid-1990s were very difficult times for the History Department. Significant funding cuts created a tense environment, magnifying the petty rivalries and jealousies to which academics are often prone. Dr Wong serenely guided us past its less collegial members, encouraging us instead to follow his example and be the river that slowly wears away the rocks of adversity. While I preferred to meet rocks with rocks, it was a valuable lesson nonetheless. It was no surprise Dr Wong was later elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

      Revisiting my work evokes other memories. It was written when we lived at Slade Road in Bardwell Park overlooking the Wolli Creek Valley. I had few responsibilities and, thanks to Austudy, the luxury of much free time. Most days, after several hours writing, I’d walk around the corner to ‘My Cake Shop’ and get a pie and chocolate brownie for lunch. Later, I’d stroll through the Valley thinking through the issues while watching the birds go about their daily round.

      Much has changed since then. We had to leave Bardwell Park when the lease came up. I went to Law School, seduced away from the uncertainties of academic life by the prospect of a more immediate career. While I regret this decision, my regular mortgage statements remind me that good fortune comes in many forms. It probably goes without saying, I was unable to sustain the pie and chocolate brownie diet. While I don’t get much bird-watching done now, I did produce two works about the birds found along Wolli Creek: Birds of western Wolli Creek (2013) and Introducing the birds of Wolli Creek (2014).

      My thesis lay packed away for years, much as Professor Laski intended. It was only in 2012 that I inadvertently discovered Dr Wong had used it as a source in Deadly Dreams - an honour I was unaware of. So, for all its faults and with the benefit of some light editing, I have decided to make it available to a wider readership.

      Justin Cahill

      Lindfield, 2014.

      oOo

      FORWARD

      by

      Professor John Wong, University of Sydney

      This is a very good thesis on a topical issue, for which Mr Cahill has provided an admirable historical background for an examination of the decolonisation process in Hong Kong.

      The thesis begins with the colonisation of Hong Kong island, then Kowloon peninsula, and then the lease of the New Territories, all of which form the present-day Hong Kong. It reveals a most interesting pattern of acquiring territory initially for trade purposes, then pushing for the acquisition of more territory for reasons of defence, security and provisions.

      It also illustrates a maxim in international relations: Might is right. When Britain was a super power, her arguments for acquiring territory were irresistible. Now that the tables have turned, China’s denial of the legality of the treaties that exacted the territory from her seems equally irresistible. In this context, the opening quotation in the thesis is particularly appropriate: Knowing, therefore, that human prosperity never abides long in the same place, shall pay attention to both. Mr Cahill has paid attention to both in a most persuasive manner.

      The original sources used included some of the

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