LogFAQs > #929223512

red sox 777 posted...

Yes. China ceded Hong Kong island and the southern part of Kowloon to Britain in perpetuity in the 1840s. In 1898, China leased the remainder of what is today the Hong Kong SAR to Britain for 99 years. If the people of Hong Kong had demanded that the original treaties between China and Britain be enforced, most likely they would have been. The border would have moved in 1997 to restore the leased land to China and the remainder - including the city center - would have remained British.

In the 80s, China and Britain signed a new treaty restoring all of Hong Kong to China in 1997 on condition that China allow Hong Kong self-rule for 50 years. To date, China has kept strictly to the terms of the treaties it signed (the letter anyway, maybe not the spirit).

And yeah, if Taiwan had wanted to leave in the 70s or 80s, not as a independent Chinese state but as an independent non-Chinese state, that could probably have been arranged. But of course that wasn't really possible because the identity of the Taiwanese state and the overwhelming majority of the population is as Chinese.

I am not sure if you actually believe this.