From today’s The AustralianÔºö
China seriously considered invading Hong Kong in the middle of talks with Margaret Thatcher in 1982, a former top Chinese official has disclosed.
The Chinese were ready to resort to “requisition by force” if the negotiations had set off unrest in the colony, said Lu Ping, who later headed negotiations with Chris Patten, the last governor.
Baroness Thatcher said later that Deng Xiaoping, then China’s leader, told her directly: “I could walk in and take the whole lot this afternoon.”
She replied that China would lose everything if it did. “There is nothing I could do to stop you,” she said, “but the eyes of the world would now know what China is like.”
Only now has Lu confirmed that the Chinese were not bluffing. [Full Text]
