Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, on Monday criticized the Chinese regime’s attempt to rewrite history by referring to it as “an occupied territory” rather than a British colony with a democratic society.
“If it was occupied, it was by refugees and relatives of victims of totalitarianism on the continent”he said in London at a book launch “Hong Kong Diaries” for the Foreign Press Association.
Patten argued that because it was an open and free society, respecting the rule of law, Hong Kong had become one of the largest economic and financial centers in Asia.
The occupation was of refugees who found refuge in the former colony, which they turned into one of the most successful cities in the world”, he defended.
It was reported last week that Hong Kong is preparing to introduce new school textbooks where, instead of referring to the Chinese territory as a former British colony, it refers to the fact that Hong Kong and Macau were occupied by foreign powers and that China never gave up. to sovereignty over both.
New school textbooks in Hong Kong say the region was never a British colony
“Hong Kong has been Chinese territory since ancient times,” reads a new book reviewed by the Associated Press, which also states that “although Hong Kong was occupied by the British after the Opium War, it remained Chinese territory.”
The book is one of a series of new textbooks with the same position and which are being offered to schools to replace those currently in usethe South China Morning Post reported.
Beijing’s position is not new, but it reinforces the attempt to increase control over Hong Kong, after the pro-democracy demonstrations of 2019.
China took over the administration of Hong Kong in 1997, granting the former British colony the status of a Special Administrative Region for 50 years, in light of the “one country, two systems” principle, with a high degree of autonomy.
The Chinese government granted the same status to the neighboring territory of Macao in 1999, after more than 400 years under Portuguese administration.
The implementation of a new Chinese National Security Law in 2020 led to the arrest of dozens of activists, opposition politicians, journalists and academics in HK.
Patten attributes this repression to the “totalitarian and autocratic regime of the Chinese Communist Party”, which he considers to be in violation of the terms of the 1997 Anglo-Chinese territory transfer agreement, which was supposed to guarantee “autonomy, freedom and the rule of law”. ” for 50 years.
Published on the 25th anniversary of the passing of sovereignty, the book “The Hong Kong Diaries” [Diários de Hong Kong] was written during the Covid-19 pandemic, based on notes taken during Patten’s tenure as governor, between 1992 and 1997.
He was previously a member of the Conservative Party between 1979 and 1992, having been Minister of the Environment, and was later appointed European Commissioner for External Relations, between 1999 and 2004.
Source: Observadora
