Club Lunch Panel: Is the Sino-British Joint Declaration Dead?

Signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang in 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration laid the foundation for Hong Kong’s handover in 1997. With Hong Kong’s current political unrest, the question has been raised as to whether the Joint Declaration has been irrevocably violated. Beijing calls it a historical document that no longer has any realistic meaning while London insists it is a legally binding treaty that is registered with the U.N. and continues to be in force. The panelists will discuss from their perspectives whether the document is all but dead.

Alan Hoo, Queen’s Counsel, Senior Counsel, Justice of Peace and Silver Bauhinia Star recipient, is Chairman of the Basic Law Institute and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He is also a Deputy Chairman of the Liberal Party.

Tim Summers is a lecturer at the Centre for China Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a non-resident senior consulting fellow on the Asia-Pacific programme at Chatham House. His research covers the international relations and political economy of contemporary China. His book – China’s Hong Kong: the politics of a global city – was published in July 2019 by Agenda Publishing. He was a British diplomat in Hong Kong from 1996 to 2001, returning in late 2007.