Editing British Empire (section)

== Decolonisation and decline (1945–1997) ==
{{Further|Decolonization}}
{{Anchor|Decolonisation|Decolonization|Decline}}
Though Britain and the empire emerged victorious from the Second World War, the effects of the conflict were profound, both at home and abroad. Much of Europe, a continent that had dominated the world for several centuries, was in ruins, and host to the armies of the United States and the Soviet Union, who now held the balance of global power.{{Sfn|Abernethy|2000|p=146}} Britain was left essentially bankrupt, with insolvency only averted in 1946 after the negotiation of [[Anglo-American loan|a US$3.75&nbsp;billion loan]] from the United States,{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=331}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenson |first=Alex |date=1947 |title=The Terms of the Anglo-American Financial Agreement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1802868 |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=178–187 |issn=0002-8282 |jstor=1802868}}</ref> the last instalment of which was repaid in 2006.<ref name="GT-DEX-2006-33">{{Cite news |date=10 May 2006 |title=What's a little debt between friends? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610152357/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm |archive-date=10 June 2010 |access-date=20 November 2008 |work=BBC News}}</ref> At the same time, anti-colonial movements were on the rise in the colonies of European nations. The situation was complicated further by the increasing [[Cold War]] rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union. In principle, both nations were opposed to European colonialism.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Kenneth C. |author-link=Kenneth C. Davis |title=Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-0600-8381-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=321, 341}}</ref> In practice, American [[anti-communism]] prevailed over [[anti-imperialism]], and therefore the United States supported the continued existence of the British Empire to keep Communist expansion in check.{{Sfn|Levine|2007|p=193}} At first, British politicians believed it would be possible to maintain Britain's role as a world power at the head of a re-imagined Commonwealth,{{Sfn|Darwin|2012|p=343}} but by 1960 they were forced to recognise that there was an irresistible "[[Wind of Change (speech)|wind of change]]" blowing. Their priorities changed to maintaining an extensive zone of British influence{{Sfn|Darwin|2012|p=366}} and ensuring that stable, non-Communist governments were established in former colonies.{{Sfn|Heinlein|2002|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CLYHR196h-0C&pg=PA113 113ff]}} In this context, while other European powers such as France and Portugal waged costly and unsuccessful wars to keep their empires intact, Britain generally adopted a policy of peaceful disengagement from its colonies, although violence occurred in [[British Malaya|Malaya]], [[Kenya Colony|Kenya]] and [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]].{{Sfn|Abernethy|2000|pp=148–150}} Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself fell from 700 million to 5 million, 3 million of whom were in Hong Kong.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=330}}

=== Initial disengagement ===
{{Main|Partition of India|1947–1949 Palestine war|Malayan Emergency}}
[[File:Emergency trains crowded with desperate refugees.jpg|thumb|right|About 14.5&nbsp;million people lost their homes as a result of the [[partition of India]] in 1947.]]
The pro-decolonisation [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, elected at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]] and led by [[Clement Attlee]], moved quickly to tackle the most pressing issue facing the empire: [[Indian independence movement|Indian independence]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=322}} India's major political party—the [[Indian National Congress]] (led by [[Mahatma Gandhi]]) — had been campaigning for independence for decades, but disagreed with [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] (led by [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]) as to how it should be implemented. Congress favoured a unified secular Indian state, whereas the League, fearing domination by the Hindu majority, desired a separate [[Islamic state]] for Muslim-majority regions. Increasing [[Civil disorder|civil unrest]] led Attlee to promise independence no later than 30 June 1948. When the urgency of the situation and risk of civil war became apparent, the newly appointed (and last) Viceroy, [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]], hastily brought forward the date to 15 August 1947.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=67}} The borders drawn by the British to broadly [[Partition of India|partition India]] into Hindu and Muslim areas left tens of millions as minorities in the newly independent states of India and [[Pakistan]].{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=325}} The [[princely states]] were provided with a choice to either remain independent or join India or Pakistan.<ref name="k567">{{cite book | last=Zeb | first=R. | title=Ethno-political Conflict in Pakistan: The Baloch Movement | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=ISSN | year=2019 | isbn=978-1-000-72992-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NvrDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT78 | page=78}}</ref> Millions of Muslims crossed from India to Pakistan and Hindus vice versa, and violence between the two communities cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Burma, which had been administered as part of [[British India]] until 1937 gained independence the following year in 1948 along with [[Sri Lanka]] (formerly known as [[British Ceylon]]). India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became members of the Commonwealth, while Burma chose not to join.{{Sfn|McIntyre|1977|pp=355–356}} That same year, the [[British Nationality Act 1948|British Nationality Act]] was enacted, in hopes of strengthening and unifying the Commonwealth: it provided British citizenship and right of entry to all those living within its jurisdiction.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Mycock |first=Andrew |date=2009 |title=British Citizenship and the Legacy of Empires |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsp035 |journal=Parliamentary Affairs |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=339–355 |doi=10.1093/pa/gsp035 |issn=0031-2290}}</ref>

The British Mandate in Palestine, where an Arab majority lived alongside a Jewish minority, presented the British with a similar problem to that of India.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=327}} The matter was complicated by large numbers of [[Jewish refugees]] seeking to be admitted to Palestine following the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]], while Arabs were opposed to the creation of a Jewish state. Frustrated by the intractability of the problem, attacks by Jewish paramilitary organisations and the increasing cost of maintaining its military presence, Britain announced in 1947 that it would withdraw in 1948 and leave the matter to the United Nations to solve.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=328}} The [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]] subsequently voted for a [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|plan to partition Palestine]] into a Jewish and an Arab state. It was immediately followed by the outbreak of a [[1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]] between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, and British forces withdrew amid the fighting. The British Mandate for Palestine officially terminated at midnight on 15 May 1948 as the State of [[Israel]] declared independence and the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War|1948 Arab-Israeli War]] broke out, during which the territory of the former Mandate was partitioned between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. Amid the fighting, British forces continued to withdraw from Israel, with the last British troops departing from [[Haifa]] on 30 June 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The British Army in Palestine |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/conflict-Palestine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190629135915/https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/conflict-Palestine |archive-date=29 June 2019 |access-date=25 June 2019 |publisher=National Army Museum}}</ref>

Following the [[surrender of Japan]] in the Second World War, anti-Japanese [[resistance movement]]s in Malaya turned their attention towards the British, who had moved to quickly retake control of the colony, valuing it as a source of rubber and tin.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=335}} The fact that the guerrillas were primarily [[Malaysian Chinese]] Communists meant that the British attempt to quell the uprising was supported by the [[Islam in Malaysia|Muslim Malay]] majority, on the understanding that once the insurgency had been quelled, independence would be granted.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=335}} The [[Malayan Emergency]], as it was called, began in 1948 and lasted until 1960, but by 1957, Britain felt confident enough to grant independence to the [[Federation of Malaya]] within the Commonwealth. In 1963, the 11 states of the federation together with Singapore, Sarawak and [[Crown Colony of North Borneo|North Borneo]] joined to form [[Malaysia]], but in 1965 Chinese-majority [[Singapore]] was expelled from the union following tensions between the Malay and Chinese populations and became an independent city-state.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=364}} [[Brunei]], which had been a British protectorate since 1888, declined to join the union.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=396}}

=== Suez and its aftermath ===
{{Main|Suez Crisis}}
[[File:Anthony Eden (retouched).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Anthony Eden|Eden]]'s decision to invade [[Egypt]] in 1956 revealed Britain's post-war weaknesses.]]
In the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 general election]], the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] returned to power in Britain under the leadership of Winston Churchill. Churchill and the Conservatives believed that Britain's position as a world power relied on the continued existence of the empire, with the base at the Suez Canal allowing Britain to maintain its pre-eminent position in the Middle East in spite of the loss of India. Churchill could not ignore [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Gamal Abdul Nasser]]'s new revolutionary [[Politics of Egypt|government of Egypt]] that had [[Egyptian Revolution of 1952|taken power in 1952]], and the following year it was agreed that British troops would withdraw from the Suez Canal zone and that Sudan would be granted self-determination by 1955, with independence to follow{{Sfn|Brown|1998|pp=339–340}} Sudan was [[History of Sudan (1956–69)|granted independence]] on 1 January 1956.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=572}}

In July 1956, Nasser unilaterally nationalised the Suez Canal. The response of [[Anthony Eden]], who had succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, was to collude with France to engineer an Israeli attack on [[Republic of Egypt (1953–58)|Egypt]] that would give Britain and France an excuse to intervene militarily and retake the canal.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=581}} Eden infuriated US President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] by his lack of consultation, and Eisenhower refused to back the invasion.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=355}} Another of Eisenhower's concerns was the possibility of a wider war with the [[Soviet Union]] after it threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side. Eisenhower applied [[leverage (finance)|financial leverage]] by threatening to sell US reserves of the [[Pound sterling|British pound]] and thereby precipitate a collapse of the British currency.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=356}} Though the invasion force was militarily successful in its objectives,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=583}} UN intervention and US pressure forced Britain into a humiliating withdrawal of its forces, and Eden resigned.{{Sfn|Combs|2008|pp=161–163}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 July 2006 |title=Suez Crisis: Key players |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5195582.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203154135/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5195582.stm |archive-date=3 February 2012 |access-date=19 October 2010 |work=BBC News}}</ref>

The [[Suez Crisis]] very publicly exposed Britain's limitations to the world and confirmed Britain's decline on the world stage and its end as a first-rate power,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Derek E. |date=14 March 2001 |title=1956: Suez and the end of empire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219192810/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1 |archive-date=19 December 2018 |access-date=19 December 2018 |work=The Guardian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Reynolds |first=Paul |date=24 July 2006 |title=Suez: End of empire |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5199392.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830213512/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5199392.stm |archive-date=30 August 2017 |access-date=19 December 2018 |work=BBC News}}</ref> demonstrating that henceforth it could no longer act without at least the acquiescence, if not the full support, of the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|1998|pp=342}}; {{Harvnb|Smith|1998|p=105}}; {{Harvnb|Burk|2008|p=602}}.</ref> The events at Suez wounded British [[Patriotism|national pride]], leading one [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) to describe it as "Britain's [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]]"{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=343}} and another to suggest that the country had become an "American [[Satellite state|satellite]]".{{Sfn|James|2001|p=585}} [[Margaret Thatcher]] later described the mindset she believed had befallen Britain's political leaders after Suez where they "went from believing that Britain could do anything to an almost neurotic belief that Britain could do nothing", from which Britain did not recover until the successful recapture of the [[Falkland Islands]] from Argentina in 1982.<ref>{{Cite news |date=27 July 2006 |title=An affair to remember |url=http://www.economist.com/node/7218678 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508124844/http://www.economist.com/node/7218678 |archive-date=8 May 2016 |access-date=25 June 2016 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

While the Suez Crisis caused British power in the Middle East to weaken, it did not collapse.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=106}} Britain again deployed its armed forces to the region, intervening in [[Muscat and Oman|Oman]] ([[Jebel Akhdar War|1957]]), [[Jordan]] ([[United Nations Security Council Resolution 127|1958]]) and [[Sheikhdom of Kuwait|Kuwait]] ([[Operation Vantage|1961]]), though on these occasions with American approval,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=586}} as the new Prime Minister [[Harold Macmillan]]'s foreign policy was to remain firmly aligned with the United States.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=343}} Although Britain granted Kuwait independence in 1961, it continued to maintain a military presence in the Middle East for another decade. On 16 January 1968, a few weeks after the [[Pound sterling#Bretton Woods|devaluation of the pound]], Prime Minister [[Harold Wilson]] and his Defence Secretary [[Denis Healey]] announced that [[British Armed Forces]] troops would be withdrawn from major military bases [[East of Suez]], which included the ones in the Middle East, and primarily from Malaysia and Singapore by the end of 1971, instead of 1975 as earlier planned.{{Sfn|Pham|2010}} By that time over 50,000 British military personnel were still stationed in the Far East, including 30,000 in Singapore.{{Sfn|Gurtov|1970|p=42}} The British granted independence to the [[Maldives]] in 1965 but continued to station a garrison there until 1976, withdrew from [[South Yemen|Aden]] in 1967, and granted independence to [[Bahrain]], [[Qatar]], and the [[United Arab Emirates]] in 1971.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=370–371}}

=== Wind of change ===
{{Main|Decolonisation of Africa|Decolonization of Asia}}
{{Further|Wind of Change (speech)}}
[[File:British Decolonisation in Africa.png|thumb|British decolonisation in Africa. By the end of the 1960s, all but [[Rhodesia]] (the future Zimbabwe) and the South African mandate of South West Africa (Namibia) had achieved recognised independence.]]

Macmillan gave a speech in [[Cape Town]], South Africa in February 1960 where he spoke of "the wind of change blowing through this continent".{{Sfn|James|2001|p=616}} Macmillan wished to avoid the same kind of [[Algerian War|colonial war]] that France was fighting in [[French Algeria|Algeria]], and under his premiership decolonisation proceeded rapidly.{{Sfn|Louis|2006|p=46}} To the three colonies that had been granted independence in the 1950s—Sudan, the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]] and Malaya—were added nearly ten times that number during the 1960s.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=427–433}} Owing to the rapid pace of decolonisation during this period, the cabinet post of [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]] was abolished in 1966, along with the [[Colonial Office]], which merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now the [[Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]]) in October 1968.<ref name="Dict_Br_Hist">{{Cite book |title=A Dictionary of British History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-1917-5802-7 |editor-last=Cannon |editor-first=John |edition=3rd |publication-date=2015 |chapter=Colonial Office |doi=10.1093/acref/9780191758027.001.0001 |editor-last2=Crowcroft |editor-first2=Robert}}</ref>

Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing [[Southern Rhodesia]], were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. From 1952 the [[Kenya Colony]] saw the eight-year long [[Mau Mau uprising|Mau Mau rebellion]], in which tens of thousands of suspected rebels were interned by the colonial government in detention camps to suppress the rebellion and over 1000 convicts executed, with records systematically destroyed.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=4}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zane |first=Damian |date=27 August 2019 |title=The Kenyan school that was once a British detention camp |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |website=BBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203072257/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49363653 |archive-date=3 December 2019 |access-date=24 November 2019 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Throughout the 1960s, the British government took a "[[No independence before majority rule|No independence until majority rule]]" policy towards decolonising the empire, leading the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia to enact the 1965 [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] from Britain, resulting in a [[Rhodesian Bush War|civil war]] that lasted until the British-mediated [[Lancaster House Agreement]] of 1979.{{Sfn|James|2001|pp=618–621}} The agreement saw the British Empire temporarily re-establish the Colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1979 to 1980 as a transitionary government to a majority rule [[Zimbabwe|Republic of Zimbabwe]]. This was the last British possession in Africa.

In [[Cyprus]], a guerrilla war waged by the [[Greek Cypriots|Greek Cypriot]] organisation [[EOKA]] against British rule, was ended in 1959 by the [[London and Zürich Agreements]], which resulted in Cyprus being granted independence in 1960. The UK retained the military bases of [[Akrotiri and Dhekelia]] as sovereign base areas. The [[List of islands in the Mediterranean|Mediterranean]] colony of [[Malta (island)|Malta]] was amicably granted independence from the UK in 1964 and became the country of [[Malta]], though the idea had been raised in 1955 of [[1956 Maltese United Kingdom integration referendum|integration with Britain]].{{Sfn|Springhall|2001|pp=100–102}}

Most of the UK's Caribbean territories achieved independence after the departure in 1961 and 1962 of Jamaica and Trinidad from the [[West Indies Federation]], established in 1958 in an attempt to unite the British Caribbean colonies under one government, but which collapsed following the loss of its two largest members.{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} Jamaica attained independence in 1962, as did [[Trinidad and Tobago]]. Barbados achieved independence in 1966 and the remainder of the eastern Caribbean islands, including the [[Bahamas]], in the 1970s and 1980s,{{Sfn|Knight|Palmer|1989|pp=14–15}} but [[Anguilla]] and the [[Turks and Caicos Islands]] opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence.{{Sfn|Clegg|2005|p=128}} The [[British Virgin Islands]],{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|p=428}} The [[Cayman Islands]] and [[Montserrat]] opted to retain ties with Britain,{{Sfn|James|2001|p=622}} while Guyana achieved independence in 1966. Britain's last colony on the American mainland, [[British Honduras]], became a self-governing colony in 1964 and was renamed [[Belize]] in 1973, achieving full independence in 1981. A [[Belizean-Guatemalan territorial dispute|dispute with Guatemala]] over claims to Belize was left unresolved.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=401, 427–429}}

[[British Overseas Territories]] in the Pacific acquired independence in the 1970s beginning with [[Fiji]] in 1970 and ending with [[Vanuatu]] in 1980. Vanuatu's independence was delayed because of political conflict between English and French-speaking communities, as the islands had been jointly administered as a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] with France.{{Sfn|Macdonald|1994|pp=171–191}} Fiji, [[Papua New Guinea]], [[Solomon Islands]] and [[Tuvalu]] became [[Commonwealth realm]]s.{{Sfn|McIntyre|2016|p=35}}

=== End of empire<!-- This is a turn of phrase, please do not change to say "the" empire or add quotation marks around it to suggest it is a specific quote from a specific source--> ===
{{See also|Falklands War|Handover of Hong Kong|Patriation}}

By 1981, aside from a scattering of islands and outposts, the process of decolonisation that had begun after the Second World War was largely complete. In 1982, Britain's resolve in defending its remaining overseas territories was tested when [[1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands|Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands]], acting on a long-standing claim that dated back to the [[Spanish Empire]].{{Sfn|James|2001|pp=624–625}} Britain's successful military response to retake the [[Falkland Islands]] during the ensuing [[Falklands War]] contributed to reversing the downward trend in Britain's status as a world power.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=629}}

The 1980s saw Canada, Australia, and New Zealand sever their final constitutional links with Britain. Although granted legislative independence by the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]], vestigial constitutional links had remained in place. The British Parliament retained the power to amend key Canadian constitutional statutes, meaning that an act of the British Parliament was required to make certain changes to the [[Constitution of Canada|Canadian Constitution]].{{Sfn|Gérin-Lajoie|1951}} The British Parliament had the power to pass laws extending to Canada at Canadian request. Although no longer able to pass any laws that would apply to Australian Commonwealth law, the British Parliament retained the power to legislate for the individual [[States and territories of Australia|Australian states]]. With regard to New Zealand, the British Parliament retained the power to pass legislation applying to New Zealand with the [[New Zealand Parliament]]'s consent. In 1982, the last legal link between Canada and Britain was severed by the [[Canada Act 1982]], which was passed by the British parliament, formally [[patriation|patriating]] the Canadian Constitution. The act ended the need for British involvement in changes to the Canadian constitution.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=594}} Similarly, the [[Australia Act 1986]] (effective 3 March 1986) severed the constitutional link between Britain and the Australian states, while New Zealand's [[Constitution Act 1986]] (effective 1 January 1987) reformed the constitution of New Zealand to sever its constitutional link with Britain.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=689}}

On 1 January 1984, Brunei, Britain's last remaining Asian protectorate, was granted full independence.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trumbull |first=Robert |date=1 January 1984 |title=Borneo Sultanate Now Independent |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/world/boreno-sultanate-now-independent.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715221145/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/01/world/boreno-sultanate-now-independent.html |archive-date=15 July 2020 |access-date=15 July 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Independence had been delayed due to the opposition of the [[List of sultans of Brunei|Sultan]], who had preferred British protection.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=202}}

In September 1982 the Prime Minister, [[Margaret Thatcher]], travelled to Beijing to negotiate with the Chinese Communist government, on the future of Britain's last major and most populous overseas territory, Hong Kong.{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=654}} Under the terms of the 1842 [[Treaty of Nanking]] and 1860 [[Convention of Peking]], [[Hong Kong Island]] and [[Kowloon Peninsula]] had been respectively ceded to Britain ''in perpetuity'', but the majority of the colony consisted of the [[New Territories]], which had been acquired under a [[Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory|99-year lease in 1898]], due to expire in 1997.<ref>{{Harvnb|Joseph|2010|p=355}}; {{Harvnb|Rothermund|2006|p=100}}.</ref> Thatcher, seeing parallels with the Falkland Islands, initially wished to hold Hong Kong and proposed British administration with Chinese sovereignty, though this was rejected by China.{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|pp=654–655}} A deal was reached in 1984—under the terms of the [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]], Hong Kong would become a [[special administrative region of the People's Republic of China]].{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=656}} The [[Hong Kong handover ceremony|handover ceremony]] in 1997 marked for many,{{Sfn|Brendon|2007|p=660}} including King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, who was in attendance, "the end of Empire", though many British territories that are remnants of the empire still remain.{{Sfn|Brown|1998|p=594}}