Sir Percy Cradock, the British diplomat who negotiated terms for returning Hong Kong to Chinese rule, has died at 86, his family said.
Cradock died last Friday following a brief illness, the family announced in the Times newspaper on Thursday.
Cradock was first posted to Hong Kong in 1961, then moved to Beijing the following year and again from 1966 to 1969, and was taken prisoner when the embassy was besieged by a mob during the Cultural Revolution.
He returned to Beijing as ambassador in 1978 as Britain began to deal with the looming return of the Hong Kong colony in 1997.
Given China’s military advantage, and Hong Kong’s dependence on China for food and water, Cradock said “Britain had virtually no cards” to play in negotiations.
Giving up Hong Kong grated against then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s instincts, and she was often suspicious of professional diplomats.
Cradock in turn was wary of politicians.
“It’s not the other side you have to worry about, but your own, the inability to influence London on matters where you have special knowledge and interest,” he wrote in a 1994 memoir.
In 1984, Britain and China agreed on a “one nation, two systems” approach, but Cradock said negotiators were under no illusion that Chinese leader Deng Xiaopeng (鄧小平) was a European liberal.
“We signed that bloody agreement with him because he ruled China and because he could harm Hong Kong or could help it. We were absolutely cold realists about it,” he said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS