In 1979, the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray MacLehose, visited China and raised the issue of the New Territories lease with Deng Xiaoping. The visit triggered the Sino-British negotiations as China saw the chance to restore sovereignty. The Gate to China: A New History of the People’s Republic & Hong Kong explains how Hong Kong came to be in the current situation, by focusing on the period between 1979 and 1997. Sheridan interviewed many people involved in the negotiations on the British side, and drew on Chinese material, which is rarely seen in the public domain.

In these negotiations, Sheridan argues, Britain was beaten time and again. During the negotiations, many civil servants in the British government believed that Hong Kong needed to be returned to China and thought that this was in the best interests of both China and Britain; China would also carry out political reforms. This presented a dilemma for Margaret Thatcher, who had initially hoped to be able to negotiate a lease extension with China.

Civil servants at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have always been at odds with the elected Members of Parliament regarding policy formulation. For British interests, civil servants at the FCO have long attached more importance to China’s interests, especially those with a background in Sinology. Sheridan argues that they were wishful thinkers who underestimated the determination of the Chinese leaders to retake Hong Kong and overestimated the reform within the party. Sheridan suggests that there was “no mention of democracy in the ‘one country, two systems’ theory, for the simple reason that there was no need for it” (95). The intention of the Chinese Communist Party had always been to take back Hong Kong and establish one country, two systems in Hong Kong with expanded economic rights, but never with any political rights or democracy.

An important representative of these diplomats was Sir Percy Cradock, who was the British chief negotiator in the Sino-British negotiations. The decision of Cradock to compro- mise with the Chinese authorities was regarded as a significant retreat and was heavily criticized at that time as betraying the people of Hong Kong. After the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, Cradock was the first senior British official to pay a visit to China in the hope of maintaining the much-criticized Joint Declaration. He was successful in fighting to guarantee, in the Basic Law, that half of the seats of the Legislative Council would be directly elected by 2007. However, 25 years after the handover, China, under the banner of “patriots ruling Hong Kong,” has repressed the democrats through the National Security Law, and reformed the Legislative Council so that only 20 of the 90 seats are directly elected.

It is worth noting that there was no input from the people of Hong Kong in these nego- tiations. Indeed, Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, later spoke of how Peking made it clear that the future of Hong Kong had nothing to do with the people of Hong Kong.

Cradock’s relationship with John Major deteriorated by forcing Major to visit China in 1991 after the dispute between the two countries over the airport in Hong Kong, making Major the first Western leader to visit China after the Tiananmen Massacre. Having had enough of the compromising attitude of Cradock and the then-governor Sir David Wilson, who was also a diplomat with a background in Sinology, Major finally replaced both of them in 1992, choosing his Conservative ally Chris Patten as the last governor.

In Chapter 9, Sheridan also brings back the extraordinary story of Cradock’s action – widely condemned at the time and still regarded by many as a betrayal of British interests. After Patten took office, he immediately pushed for substantial democratic reforms in the Legislative Council, which aroused strong dissatisfaction from the Chinese side. Although Cradock had retired, he joined the pro-Peking camp, and became one of the most prominent critics of Patten, criticizing him as an ignorant and stupid idealist. In 1993, Cradock privately briefed the Chinese side in an attempt to undermine Patten’s democratic reforms, but did not report it to the British government.

History has justified Patten’s efforts. Patten’s reforms brought Hong Kong’s attempt at democratic reform; Patten also expected that China would eventually break its promises. The two living former governors are now life peers. Still, their performances can be described as opposites. Patten, as the last governor of Hong Kong, keeps speaking out for Hong Kong people in the House of Lords, while Wilson still defends China, not feeling sorry about the compromise during his governorship. During the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Wilson defended the police’s crackdown with tear gas in the House of Lords. In 2019, Wilson criticized the movement for becoming increasingly violent, and expressed sympathy for the police. Wilson also expressed disapproval of any action by the British government on China and Hong Kong affairs.

After the National Security Law was passed, the United Kingdom determined its policy toward Hong Kong, believing that China had torn up the Sino-British Joint Declaration. In 1981, when the British Nationality Law was passed, Britain failed Hongkongers and revoked the right of Hongkongers to reside in Britain. This moral lapse was corrected 40 years later when the Conservative government passed new legislation allowing Hongkongers to live and work in Britain, after the massive democratic protests in Hong Kong and the enforcement of the National Security Law. Wilson has also not spoken publicly since then and officially resigned from the House of Lords in 2021, citing his old age. Fortunately, with Patten as the last governor of Hong Kong, Wilson’s attitude was ignored; otherwise, Hongkongers might have to face another betrayal.

The Gate of China is an important account of Hong Kong’s historical development. The book also reflects the struggle between China and Britain during the Sino-British negotia- tions, and how British civil servants influenced the government. A lot of information in this book has not been disclosed before, which makes the book worth reading.