Editing Deng Xiaoping (section)

=== Return of Hong Kong and Macau ===
[[File:Deng Thatcher 3.JPG|thumb|A model reconstruction of Deng Xiaoping's 1984 meeting with UK Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]], Shenzhen]]
From 1980 onwards, Deng led the expansion of the economy, and in political terms took over negotiations with the United Kingdom to [[Handover of Hong Kong|return Hong Kong]], meeting personally with then-Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]]. Thatcher had participated in the meetings with the hopes of keeping British rule over Hong Kong Island and Kowloon—two of the three constituent territories of the colony—but this was firmly rejected by Deng.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hurst |first=Matthew |date=2022 |title=Britain's Approach to the Negotiations over the Future of Hong Kong, 1979–1982 |journal=The International History Review |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=1386–1401 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2021.2024588 |s2cid=257431054 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The result of these negotiations was the [[Sino-British Joint Declaration]], signed on 19 December 1984, which formally outlined the United Kingdom's return of the whole Hong Kong colony to China by 1997. The Chinese government pledged to respect the economic system and civil liberties of the British colony for fifty years after the handover.<ref>Vogel, ''Deng Xiaoping'', pp. 487–511.</ref><ref>Nancy C. Jackson, "The Legal Regime of Hong Kong After 1997: An Examination of the Joint Declaration of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China". ''International Tax & Business Lawyer'' (1987): 377–423. [https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1072&context=bjil Online]{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Deng's theory of [[one country, two systems]] applied to Hong Kong and Macau and Deng intended to also present it as an attractive option to the people of [[Taiwan]] for eventual incorporation of that island, where sovereignty over the territory is still disputed.<ref>Vogel, ''Deng Xiaoping'', pp. 477–91.</ref> In 1982, Deng first explained the concept of one country, two systems in relation to Taiwan.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wu |first1=Guoyou |title=An Ideological History of the Communist Party of China |last2=Ding |first2=Xuemai |date=2020 |publisher=Royal Collins Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4878-0392-6 |editor-last=Zheng |editor-first=Qian |volume=3 |location=Montreal, Quebec |translator-last=Sun |translator-first=Li |translator-last2=Bryant |translator-first2=Shelly}}</ref>{{Rp|page=231}}

Deng's statements during the 1987 drafting of the [[Basic Law of Hong Kong]] showed his view of the principle in the Hong Kong context.<ref name=":042">{{Cite book |last=Hu |first=Richard |title=Reinventing the Chinese City |date=2023 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-21101-7 |location=New York}}</ref>{{Rp|page=176}} At that time, Deng stated that the central government would not intervene in the daily business of Hong Kong, but predicted Hong Kong would sometimes have issues affecting national interests that would require the central government's involvement.<ref name=":042" />{{Rp|pages=178–179}} Deng said, "after 1997, we shall still allow people in Hong Kong to attack the Communist Party of China and China verbally, but what if the words were turned into action, trying to convert Hong Kong into a base of opposition to the Chinese mainland under the pretext of 'democracy'? Then there’s no choice but intervention."<!-- and the sentences that follow were: “First the administrative bodies in Hong Kong should intervene; mainland troops stationed there would not necessarily be used. They would be used only if there were disturbances, serious disturbances. Anyway, intervention of some sort would be necessary.” --><ref name="china.org.cn 1987 i438">{{cite web | title=Speech at a Meeting with the Members of The Committee for Drafting the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region | website=china.org.cn | date=16 April 1987 | url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/dengxiaoping/103351.htm | access-date=1 January 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050508210613/http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/dengxiaoping/103351.htm | archive-date=8 May 2005}}</ref><ref name="香港01 2022 z800">{{cite web | title=回歸25周年｜重溫鄧小平與香港的那些事 | website=香港01 | date=2 July 2022 | url= https://www.hk01.com/article/788065 | language=zh | access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref> In June 1988, Deng stated that "Hong Kong's political system today is neither the British system nor the American system, and it should not transplant the Western ways in the future."<ref name=":042" />{{Rp|page=179}}